Operation: Code Vesperia
by Liana Banda
Summary: What happens when you mix 3 friends, a thunderstorm, and a video game? You get sucked into it that's what! Now how will our Earthly trio fair when they find themselves in the world of Vesperia? How is my OC here? With a Vesperia Junkie leading the way, what can possibly go wrong? Nothing can go wrong right?...Right? Rated M for language and suggestive themes at times.
1. Character Introductions

Yes that's right! A Vesperia Insert FanFic…Like we don't have enough of those already….but hopefully I can get this story done by the end of the year (Not gonna promise anything; because, I will have College classes, family emergencies and issues *cough* disabled parent *cough*, and or illnesses that I may randomly get. _No seriously I got Bronchitis one time and I don't even know how_ ) if not I'll keep going until it's done no matter if everyone hates it's guts XD!

Quick Notes: Parenthesis () will be thoughts, *'s will be actions, and _italics_ are used for the Telepathy between Kairi and Liana, and ~*~ will mainly be flashbacks whenever I use Skits or make a moment in the story.

Also I've decided the 2nd story will be updated along with the main Story every 1 to 2 chapters (maybe 3 we'll see) since it's basically the same story only different…..you'll see, the name should give it away XD

Also add an HTTPS and a : and two / before any of the links I give since I'm unsure how to add links without them vanishing when I paste them.

Oh right should do a disclaimer even though this isn't a true start just a basic character introduction?

Kairi: Are we gonna have to do a disclaimer everytime? *pouts sadly*

Honestly…..I don't know, I make no money off this, its fan fiction therefore other than my own OC's nothing else is mine but the work, and I don't own my friend's person XD

Justin & Caroline: DAMN STRAIGHT YOU DON'T!

Chill guys seriously you wanna be in this or not?

Justin: 50-50 since your writing it.

Caroline: YOU PROMISED TO LET ME BE IN IT FOR FFFFFLLLLYYYYYNNNNNN~ DX

OMG OK SHUT UP, I'M DOING IT! XD I in no way own these things: Caryn, Justin, the Tales Series, Tales of Vesperia, any of the characters that will be mentioned. I do however own Kairi (Not KH Kairi!), Myself (Liana), and this story that I am going to write even though it is going to follow Vesperia's script at times so I don't own those parts XD but the rest yes, gosh why do people make it so complicated…..I feel like making a cut and paste disclaimer since no one really reads these.

Caroline: Y'know that's kinda true…

* * *

Name: Liana Banda

Age: 26 (Going to be 27 in August 16th yay XD)

Height: 5 feet (I grew 2 inches over Kairi yay :D)

Gender: FEMALE! THESE BAZONGAS ON MY CHEST AREN'T BALLOONS SHOVED IN A BRA YA KNOW!

Hair: Black

Eyes: Black (no seriously they are, they're so dark a brown that in any lighting they look black)

Image for Earth Liana Here: i171 . photobucket (dot com)/ albums / u285 /lia_080 /liana %20 nightie. png

Image for Vesperia Liana Here: i171. photobucket (dot com)/ albums/ u285/ lia_080/ liana%20 hair%20 front%20 and% 20top. jpg

Weapon: Fists….it's all I got…..

Quick rundown: There's 26 years of things that may take a long while, but to describe myself: I'm a lonely Otaku with few friends, I like to be silly and random to avoid harsh and tough times even if the people around really don't feel like smiling, I can be crazy and if I get mad…I get mad….Oh and I do know some self-defense and just plain brawling/fighting thanks to my cousins growing up, so that may or may not help when suddenly thrown into Vesperia…and I'm pretty tomboyish but I do got a feminine side…..I just don't like to show it a lot…

* * *

Name: Kairi UJMK (Urameshi Jaganshi Minamino Kuwabara too long/complex a story to get into)

Age: 20

Height: 4'10"

Gender: Female of course (My God Yuri's gonna have a Harem at this point and he already has enough fan boys and girls XD)

Hair: Reddish Brown

Eyes: i. ytimg (dot com)/ vi/wy0q_UCuXv8/ hqdefault . jpg (best example I could find to describe her eyes)

Image for Vesperia Kairi: i171 .photobucket (dot com)/ albums/ u285/lia_080/ Kairi%20grace%20shawl . jpg

Weapon: White staff with a White Dragon on top of a Large Purple Circle.

Quick rundown: This is gonna be a bit long, but I might not ever do a fanfic on Kairi's story since trust me no one likes a story about a MARY SUE, even if that Mary Sue begins to gradually become closer towards Human. To get to the point, Kairi isn't real, she also isn't completely human, she's an OC I created of what I wanted to be myself, and as implied above she was a COMPLETE MARY SUE once upon a time when I made her as a kid to play with me. As I grew she grew with me, with one rule: her every death and rebirth began taking from her and she slowly began descending into being a part of humanity; why can she be reborn if she dies? Because she's also a representation of my own self before things began darkening my palette minus the whole goddess of reality bit, but being the goddess of reality means if she dies everything would go to hell so the universe needs her to sustain itself until a new god or goddess is born despite her becoming more human, that's why even if she wished to die, she cannot. Skill wise the only skills she can use are the skills I've given my account I made of her on Mabinogi XD, she has all her mage/healer skills with some combat, but her strength and stamina lacks greatly so you won't see her using a sword, but she will dual wield daggers for faster speed to make up for strength in emergencies. She is a very happy go lucky girl, she's not naïve or 100% innocent she knows of the darkness that can be since she's been with me, she loves music a lot, and she's a semi-good chef…..albeit at times she can and will burn the food more times than not; although, she will never fail SWEETS, she's very clumsy, and at times she's not the brightest, but like Estelle she's very caring and loves to help people over herself…and she can be very nervous and scared, it's just far too long and complex to explain her at all XD

* * *

Name: Caroline (Caryn)

Age: 29

Height: 5'4"

Gender: Female

Hair: Orange

Eyes: Blue

Image for Earth Caryn: i171 . photobucket (dot com)/ albums/u285/lia_080/Caryn%20earth . png

Image for Vesperia Caryn: i171 . photobucket (dot com)/ albums/u285/lia_080/Caryn%20casual . png

Weapon: Wooden Leather Long Bow

Quick rundown: Caryn is a tomboy who appears to be a dirty girl, but she's actually more pure than you think you just got to get to know her better. She's very cheeky, teasy, and fun, though she has a huge dislike for the color pink, will she get along with Estelle? (Nope XD but we'll see). I don't know what more Caroline would want me to say XD

* * *

Name: Justin

Age: 28

Height: 5'9"

Gender: Male

Hair: Black

Eyes: Hazelnut (They have an orangish tinge that sometimes look like he has red eyes at times)

Image for Earth Justin: i171. photobucket (dot com)/ albums/u285/lia_080/Justin%20coat%20normal . png

Image for Vesperia Justin: i171 . photobucket (dot com)/ albums/u285/lia_080/justin%20vesperia . png

Weapon: Whatever pistols they may have in Vesperia + a Dagger

Quick rundown: Justin is a perv, but he's got chivalry, he's not indecent most times, and he's a fun guy. He reminds me of the Old Man when he stops being a lying purple weasel, he's even tanned enough to be Raven's skin shade in real life lolz. He believes in gender equality so ladies don't hit him and expect him not to hit back, he can lose his temper at times but he doesn't resort to violence, and despite his ladies' man front he's a sensitive guy even if he doesn't like people to point it out or declare it on fanfiction XD

* * *

Meh that should be it, who knew introductions could be so hard XD I can't describe us very well, it's just something you'd have to observe and find out yourselves.


	2. 1: The Beginning of the End

This….Is the story of how I died…

Justin: Oh don't even start with that…

Fine you fun buster. Disclaimer time outta the way :) I in **NO WAY** own Tales of Vesperia, the Tales Series, any other animes and songs that may or may not be referenced or sang, Caryn, and Justin. I only own myself, Kairi, and this fanfiction, but since it follows the Vesperia plot their quotes and stuff in game aren't mine…Disclaimers are boring, it should be obvious what a person owns and not owns when writing a FAN FICTION DX

Caryn: Well you still have to do it, and now that your 2 week Vegas/California Vacation got cancelled, you have no excuse to not do this fan fiction until late August now :)

You hate me so much don't you…

Caryn: I love you!~ XD

Yup figured XD Parenthesis are thoughts and italics are telepathic communication.

* * *

Waking up at 5 in the morning just wasn't my thing, but here I am, awake, why? "I'll be back late and your brother has work at 9 a.m., if you get hungry there's left over grilled chicken in the fridge," my dad was explaining to me, "and if you need anything while I'm gone call me ok?" My father has a responsibility to take my mom to her doctor's appointments, only thing is: we live here up near Dallas and she lives near Waco, the poor guy has a two hour drive to get to my mom's house and an hour drive to take her to her doctor, and all because the government threatened to penalize her disability check and other things if she were to try to move up here with us. It was such a pain in the ass, but it had to get done, with a yawn and a wave I bid my dad farewell as he drove out the car port and away down the street, locking the door behind me to go back to bed until 9 a.m. when I knew I'd get that inevitable knock on my door from my little brother that time.

1 p.m., that's what my Yuri Lowell alarm clock told me when I opened my eyes after hearing Toriumi talk about Brave Vesperia having to work hard today and that if I didn't wake up Repede would eat my food; thankfully my brother hadn't knocked on my door to wake me up at 9 a.m., but I had overslept a bit. After a quick shower, teeth and hair brushed, still in my teal nightie refusing to change clothes, a hearty plate of white rice along with some grilled chicken, I was good for the day! To do what…..? "Ugh, what do I even wanna do today? It's so boring around here and we're in a city gosh darn it! It's too hot to even be outside despite all the clouds! There should be like at least 1 arcade in this city! Movie Theatre, don't feel like it! If I go to the mall or shops I'm just gonna wanna buy things and I have no cash on me!...GAH! AADGSFGHHHJJJKLLKLKUURFFFBBBB!," I began raging and flopped myself on the massive king sized bed we have in my craft room just in case when guests or family decide to stay over. Rolling around in frustration a while I stopped, let out a large sigh, and finally gave up, "I'll just skype Caryn, and call Justin over, maybe I'll play a game and get so caught up the time will pass by until I can sleep again…," I truly am a lazy human being. Just who am I? I am Liana Banda, and I send this message for all youth to hear…..don't grow up to be like me…

"HEY JUSTIN BUDDY!" I shouted into the phone, "WANNA HANG OUT AND PLAY VIDEO GAMES WITH ME TODAY :D!" Pained grunts could be heard on the other end of the phone before making me press my ear close to the phone to listen, unaware of the pain that was coming, "FUCKS SAKE WOMAN STOP SHOUTING!" Ah my ear drums were gonna hurt a while. 17 minutes later my doorbell rang and in came Justin who made himself comfortable on my couch, Caroline was on the screen of my laptop in the living room to chill with us, "So what we playing?," Justin asked. "I don't know, I don't have many 2 player games, what about Vesperia :D you can play as Estelle while I main Yuri!," my offer didn't sound too appealing to him at all, "Just how many times have you played that dang game Liana?" I sat thinking, "Ummmm, 11 times on Xbox 360 and about 4 times on the PS3," Justin shook his head, "You are seriously a Vesperia Junkie, but I bet people do worse than just 15 plays on a single game." I nodded in agreement, "So therefore we can play Vesperia :D!" "Rejected!" "We're playing XD!" "OBJECTION!" "UNOBJECT DX!" The back and forth lasted a while with Caroline laughing her ass off in the background. The storm outside brewed and it began to rain like no tomorrow, thunder clapping here and there, I'd hate to admit it, but I have a fear of thunderstorms; because, thunderstorms equal power outages, power outages equal black outs, black outs mean the darkness, and I was deathly terrified of being alone in the dark. Childish I know, but it was a fear I couldn't grow out of.

Shaking in my nightie I loaded Vesperia into my PS3, after much debate Caroline decided Vesperia was fun, mainly cause she just wanted to hear Flynn's voice, and Justin realizing I was getting scared with the storm gave in an agreed we could play to take my mind off the thunder. I was pathetic I knew, I just was lucky to have friends who understood and supported me rather than calling me out on my weaknesses and laughing at them. The title screen made me smile wholeheartedly seeing Yuri against the tree staring out at Zaphias with Repede, mainly because my OC Kairi was in love with Yuri, it wasn't me, no, if it was me, I'd admit I love Papa Nier from Nier Gestalt. That earned me an incredulous look from Kairi who had exited my head and appeared on my couch, no she isn't real, in fact, she looks like a ghost with her holographic appearance when I see her, and ever since I was young, I had no friends. So when I made a friend for myself, she was it, what I wanted as a friend, what I wanted to be, what I wished I could be; I suppose you could say she was like an imaginary friend, only that my mind was so far crazed I could see her. " _Don't you give me that look_ ," I told her with my mouth closed, "He treats Yonah so well, he may not be the best looking, but he's buff, he's tall, and a hell of a father! I'd definitely want to marry that!" She fell on the couch laughing, saying my face was like a tomato, (Ah shoot I was blushing for no reason and Justin is probably wondering why) turning my head I saw Justin giving me a look like I was on drugs or something, "You want to marry what now?" (Ah shit I said that last line aloud, way to go me….) I'm pretty sure right now I was shaming the most crimson red there can be in the world.

I shook my head and assured Justin it was a moment of temporal insanity and decided to do a new game and play from the beginning, seeing the familiar opening video, Caroline squealing when Flynn began talking about what could have happened to the town, Kairi softly leaning on the couch as it got to the part with Yuri on his window sill, the game began. "Ah it feels like forever since I played this," I said, my focus being taken off the storm outside and focusing on Ted informing Yuri of the Broken Aqua Blastia and to help fix it. Justin just sat pouting a bit, "You said you were playing this last week, how can it have been forever? Can't you skip dialogue, it's not like I understand Japanese, plus I'm not gonna get to play until there's 2 party members!"

I rolled my eyes and ignored his request and continued with the game, running up to the Royal Quarter to sneak into the mansion after being told not to by Hanks, only to be duped by a guy who looks like a mouse with his long whiskers and buck teeth, ah I played so much, I knew what was coming, but it didn't make it any less ridiculous to think of, and then came the tweedles to stop me. "It makes me wonder how these guys are knights. I mean I know the game needs some form of tutorial for things, but seriously think about it, these guys are pansies, wimps, and basically punching bags, how'd they get in? They don't look like nobles who paid to get in." I noted. "Dunno and don't care," Justin said, "just hurry up and let him get beat to a pulp by Cumore's squad and get in the castle to get Estelle." I huffed, "seriously I could take them all on, sure I sucked at combat in the first play through, but I know how to use Yuri now and I could wipe the floor clean of these creeps!"

As the sound of a beat down went on in the black screen that would soon show Yuri in the jail cell, a brilliant flash of light seemed to come from the window along with an ear rending BANG! My vision went white, Justin shouted colorful words, I could hear Caryn scream bloody murder from the computer screen at how loud the sound was, but something wasn't right. The bright light didn't just flash, it remained for what seemed like 4 minutes, Justin nor Caroline had said anything…I began to panic. "OMG I died didn't I, I am so dead, is this where souls go to wait to go to heaven or hell or am I just stuck? I DO NOT WANNA BE HERE FOR ETERNITY, I'M NOT READY FOR LIMBO!"

Just as I finished my rant gravity seemed to take me and I fell backwards as a sudden darkness enveloped the area, it was dark but I could make out a dark brick ceiling and wall, my sense returning as I heard voices "Ow! What the hell? What was that light? Hey! Where did you two come from?...Do you mind getting off me?" the first voice I heard spoke, it was a male voice, a very familiar male voice, "Ah I-I-I I'm so sorry! I mean we didn't know, I mean uhhhh ahhh sorry!" That next voice was a female voice, again familiar, the sounds of scurried movement along with her apologies filling my ears, I dared myself to sit up and my jaw hit the floor. I was staring at Yuri Lowell sitting up on his makeshift cell bed staring at me, Yuri Fucking Lowell was staring at me, and on the other side of the bed with pink cheeks, waving her hands as she frantically apologized seeming to have trouble finding any words….was my OC Kairi, not holographic, not a ghost, she was solid….no Justin in sight….what the hell is going on indeed.

* * *

Dun dun dun You have become level one :D now things are still messed up in my house so, ignore Caryn's line in the top stuff that Vacation may still go on, but maybe for a week rather than 2, gotta see how things go.


	3. 2: Nice to meet you Mr Lowell

Answering Machine: *beep* You have 3 unheard messages *beep* First unheard message sent today at 3:37 a.m. *beep* "Hello, this is Liana! Having a yard sale now so I can't come to make this disclaimer in person so here goes. I do not own Tales of Vesperia, Justin, or Caryn, I just own my work in this fiction, Kairi, and myself, that is all!" *beep* Second unheard message sent today at 3:39 a.m. *beep* "Hey! Kinda forgot to mention that parenthesis are thoughts, italics are telepathic communication, and *'s equal actions in skits. Also as of the last chapter, don't ask where I got my Yuri alarm clock, it goes against a guideline I think to even put down where to get it at, and those who are thinking from last chapter 'Who's Toriumi?'….It's Toriumi Kousuke, do research on it, it's your homework." *beep* Third unheard message sent today at 3:41 a.m. *beep* "That homework will be due on Friday and is worth 10% of your grade, I expect perfect scores~!" *beep* End of messages, main menu, to listen to your messages again press 1, to delete your messages press 7, for more option press 2, to disconnect press star :D

* * *

Ah this was like a dream come true and a nightmare in one, Yuri Lowell staring down at me and turning his head to stare at Kairi, waiting, expecting some sort of answer to the questions he had asked. (What the hell do I say? What can I say? I don't even know how the fuck we got here more so why Kairi is here….GAH! STARING AT ME AGAIN! LIANA BANDA! SAY SOMETHING! ANYTHING!) I opened my mouth to speak, but was quickly interrupted by another familiar voice, "Ooooo I hear a lady with ya in there pal, was I interrupting anything beforehand?" ' _Oh, now was he interrupting anything Kairi, eh?' I asked._ Realizing what Raven and I were was assuming Kairi covered her face with both her hands, her ears and cheeks becoming a bright red, shaking lightly she could only mumble unintelligibly to me, but I could make out _'it's…not like that…..',_ ah how I loved to tease her, just wait till Raven was in the party we were gonna be BFFs, at least until Heracles.

"Not anything juicy if that's what you're expecting old man," I replied. "Huh, another one? Whatcha got in there a harem? Now that ain't fair at all" was the pouty response Raven gave, which earned a roll of the eyes from Yuri as he gave a smirk and teased back, "Bet you wish you were in this cell then old man?"

"Old man, old man, now you've both gone and hurt this old man's feelings," came the familiar lines, seems like despite our arrival things were going like in the game…..to some extent at least, I quickly noticed, they were speaking English, that was Troy Baker and Joe J Thomas's voices, not Toriumi and Takepon. I was certain I had loaded up my PS3 Vesperia, not the Xbox version, did that mean no Patty or Flynn in the party? I quickly began to drown out the rest of the conversation knowing how it was gonna go and focused on Kairi, my panic beginning to set in again, I had too much exploding in my mind while my poker face remained.

' _So any clue, as to what the hell is going on here? Why are we in Vesperia? Why is it in English?! Why are you here?! How are you here?! Where's Justin?! Did he come with us or stay back?! What do we do?! What if we screw things up for just being here!? Do we follow the plot or change it? I've read way too many self inserts to know things can go wrong with a slip up!'_

' _Liana please calm down! One thing at a time please…I'm thinking as well…..'_

' _Kairi…..are….are you real? You look solid enough…..but you shouldn't…..I mean….you know….'_

' _Strangely…..yes…..if I weren't solid I would've fazed through Yuri when we fell through that rift….he wouldn't have been able to see me either….but….I landed on top of him after you landed and fell off him….and he saw me…..if…if he hadn't told me to get off him I never would've guessed he could see me….'_ She turned away her cheeks burning again.

Ah I wanted to tease her again for that, but there was no time for games anymore, this was serious, ' _So then about this rift, what happened?'_

' _I'm not sure, I saw lightning strike incredibly close to the window, the flash was so bright even I didn't know what was going on. It….it may have been my fault…..even if the force of the lightning was strong enough to tear open a rift between dimensions, reality, whatever the case may be, the odds of us coming to Vesperia should be very slim, I'm talking 0% decimal/fraction percentage here…but….but it had startled me...and I...perhaps unconsciously I opened up the rift here…because I was thinking about wanting to see Yuri…..then maybe…I'm sorry…..I mean….I don't know if it was me 100%….but still….sorry….'_ she began to drop her head in apology, she sure knew how to make me feel like an ass.

"I just wanna know how to get out of here," Yuri said, I immediately snapped back to them ignoring my raging thoughts and questions while Kairi was silently sulking. "Well I'm not sure what yer in for, but they'll let ya out if ya keep yer trap shut for ten days" Raven responded, and yet again more question just popped into my head, why was Raven in the jail at this time? When he said the ten days it made me wonder how he knew Yuri was gonna be in there for ten days like Cumore had said, did the knights tell him or stalker much? My Vesperia Junkie side and Yaoi Fangirl side just wanted to know so BADLY~!

"The Lower Quarter will be underwater by then" Yuri said, concern slightly in his tone. "The Lower Quarter…Ah yeah, I heard about that." "I wonder how they're all doing right now" the same concerned tone as before. "Sorry, neighbor. That's one piece of dirt I don't have" Raven stated, Yuri's eyes closing and thinking slightly before getting up carefully and ignoring us to check out the cell door before asking himself, "And what am I gonna do about that damned Mordio." Kairi was now out of her sulking and her focus was now on Yuri, we both knew how he felt when it came down to the Lower Quarter, and despite my poker face, I really just wanted to hug the guy and just say everything would be OK, though since we were just strangers who fell on top of him from seemingly nowhere, he'd take that hug and comment with a grain of salt.

I tuned out the conversation again and began to think; I just wanted to ask two things out of the many questions in my head _'Hey Kairi….'_

' _Hm? What is it?'_

' _Say…..say we travel with Yuri…telling him we wanna find a way back home…you…you think…he'll let us tag along?...S-should we tell him about us being from Earth….just minus the game factor?'_ I was really nervous despite my not changing expressions. Besides, in every insert fiction I ever read, holding back that you were from another world much later always impacted everyone's trust negatively.

' _I'm not sure….I mean he may believe us….we did sort of pop out of thin air….I mean he trusted Judith when he discovered she was the Dragon Rider and he took Raven along despite his shadiness and his misinformation'_ Kairi's expression became less nervous and more confident, her eyes shining with hope and faith, _'and despite the betrayal and hardships he faced, he still accepted them for them….he's not the sort of guy who'd ignore people in trouble….nor would he abandon them, I trust him….that goes without saying he's still gonna suspect us of somethings since assassins are gonna be out for him, Estelle, and Flynn….but we just got to prove ourselves….though we may end up holding them back, I mean we aren't the best of fighters…'_

' _Yeah….once the others arrive, we're gonna be the weakest…plus Rita won't believe us without proof anyways...but...'_ that left a bad taste in my mouth, I just hated being a burden to anyone, and so did Kairi…I wonder if there was any way for us to get strong enough to be beside them…not just behind them…..without any blastia…

Tuning back to the conversation after Raven let it slip to Yuri were to find 'Mordio' I decided to talk with Raven as well due to my thoughts, "Impressive. So a guy who knows so much about the outside, can't find a way to get info and get out from in here?"

"Sorry sweetheart, this old man doesn't have that kinda convenience handy."

"Aww too bad, if you knew how to get outta here I'd have totally given you a very tight hug old man" I knew he had the key, but my mind began racing with thoughts on if me and Kairi had screwed up the plot by being here, if he'd still hand Yuri the key. I had to try to give him extra incentive as a pre-measure if for some reason he didn't I thought.

Just in his nature I could hear him shuffling like he was getting up to pounce open the door and bust us out about now, "Oh, now that would be a nice treat" he responded in a tone much like he was scratching his stubble in thought, possibly considering the offer.

At that moment the sound of a door being open and multiple footsteps were heard. (OH SHIT Alexei! I gotta hide! Wait….do I even have to hide? Does he even know which prisoners are supposed to be down here? Would he even care that we're in here with Yuri? Does he even-). My thoughts were cut off by Yuri grabbing my arm and dragging me over to the bed, practically throwing me under the bed to hide me and covering Kairi with the blanket. He put a finger to his lips as Kairi peeped out from the blankets signaling us to be quiet and he gestured with his hand waving down to tell us to keep down and out of sight before he walked over and positioning himself in front of the cell door so the Knights would focus on him and not notice either of us in the back. Alexei walked by, not sparing a glance to the cell as he went to Raven's cell and freed him.

"Out." He commanded. A large sigh was heard followed by a bit of muttering, another sigh and Raven's only response was, "Ah well, just when things were getting good." (Hmmm, is that about his conversation with Yuri or my hug offer I wonder). "Hurry up" Alexei commanded (Gosh someone twisted this guy's calzones up his butt or what?). Just as the footsteps began returning none of the knights peered in again as Alexei passed by once more. True to the game Raven pretended to fall over in front of Yuri and both began to whisper to each other as Raven slipped him the key. Come to think of it, why did Raven have the key? Did Schwann have a copy of the cell keys on him at all times? And why not just get out earlier? Oh well not gonna complain since it's our ticket outta here.

"What are you doing? I said hurry up" Alexei barked. "Alright, easy. I'm coming" Raven answered as he ran up to catch up to Alexei. Yuri looked over at us and nodded letting us know it was safe to get up, I'd have to pretend I don't really know anything going on from now on, this was gonna be tough, Kairi seemed to understand as well.

"Thanks for that, so what was that all about anyways?" I asked, trying to act innocent while trying to see if I could get Yuri to take us with him, "That guy in gaudy orangey red get up seemed so stuck up." Yuri raised an eyebrow staring at me with a look that said 'you don't know?' yet with an amused look from my gaudy comment, "That happened to be the Commandant of the knights, his name's Alexei, don't know him personally though." "Wait a minute, knights? As in knights like fairy tale knights with fiery steeds, shiny armor, and fight dragon knights? I thought those you know, only existed in England." I definitely was an oddball to him if his facial expression didn't say so. Huh? Wait weren't we supposed to be getting out of here by now? "England? Not quite like those kinds of knights, but anyways," he sat down on the end of his bed, "I want to ask about that light earlier" he responded, his expression going from weirded out to serious in no time flat, "Who are you two anyways? Where did you come from?"

Were we even going to be allowed to travel with him? "I'm sorry, I don't really know how we got here entirely either," Kairi said, "I can maybe make a few guesses, but I don't have the answer 100%, BUT-" "First one question, please," I cut off Kairi, she believed in him I knew, but we need to be careful how we put our words and expressions, she was gonna be hurt the most if he wouldn't believe in her words, I'm more capable of taking the blunt of things than she is, it was my fault she ended up with that trait, "Where are we?" I needed to get the whole Terca Lumireis out of him before telling him we're from Earth, I mean just saying you're from Earth with knowing you are on another planet would be a cause for questions on how we knew we weren't on our planet to begin with.

Yuri seemed to gauge me before answering, "We're in a jail cell in the castle, where else?" "Castle? Where exactly, just saying castle doesn't help you know!" I snapped back, honestly, we were supposed to be outta here already, Estelle could be in serious trouble by now! If ANYTHING happened to her it would be my fault…..damn it.

As if seeing my concern behind my frustration, he calmly answered back, "The castle in the capital, Zaphias, there any other castles or something?" "Zaphias? Where on Earth is that? I never heard of it in geography class, and it's supposed to be a capital….….Wait! No…No way….Not possible….Ummm….GAH JUST ASK!...What is this planet's name?" I acted shocked at a supposed revelation, thankful for acting classes in High School and my natural insanity, but I was in the mood to hurry this along, the longer we stayed here the more I began to worry. "Terca Lumireis," Yuri was a bit taken back, though my comment on 'Where on Earth this was' began making him realize my implications, "Hey hey, you two aliens or something?" "…..I guess in some way we are since Terca Lumireis is not our planet's name," I replied calmly lowering my head, I wasn't gonna speed this up was I, I was only making things worse…..damn we aren't even supposed to be here. A hint of sadness going through me at a quick thought, my dad was gonna be so worried to find me not home anymore.

Kairi couldn't keep quiet any longer before responding, "We…..We come from a planet called Earth!" Her head lowered, afraid to look up at Yuri despite her confidence towards him inside, "I-I know that it's hard to believe….but we…we come in peace! We just want to go home! That's all! Please! It's selfish of us, but can we please-""If you shout any louder the knights are gonna come checking up on us," came the reply as a click and the sound of the cell door opening, "would you look at that-it opened," our heads lifted to meet his cocky smirk, "so what your saying is, you want to come along to find a way to get back home right?"

"Are you sure? I mean we just met you….can we come along?" I managed to get out, despite that I knew his personality it still legitimately surprised me that he'd take us along. "It's fine, besides, that old man told me to get you both out of here, and to tell you," he looked over at me, "you owe him a big hug." I felt my face turn red, I never go back on a promise unless somethings happen to make me revoke it, and so far right now I was gonna have to dish it out when we got to Capua Nor….unless I could hold it off and he sells us out there, then I could revoke it. I got nothing against the old man, just that hugging him now while he was still a lying weasel and Alexei's lap dog wasn't what I wanted.

"Well you two coming or not?" Yuri asked us, eyebrows raised? "Oh yes, we're coming...Mister…?" I quickly replied, getting out of my trance, we told him we're from Earth, not that we know who you are, what you may or may not do, I had to act like this was a first play through.

"Yuri, Yuri Lowell" He answered as he carefully peaked out of the cell before exiting.

"I'm Liana Banda. Thanks for helping us. Oh and this is Kairi," I said gesturing to Kairi as we walked out of the cell, Kairi was a tiny bit flustered. "She's very shy at times so-" I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the water that for some reason was streaming in the cell out of the corner of my eye, I turned to look and my mouth shut entirely and I slumped a bit staring back at myself dumbly. "Hm? Something the matter?" He asked noticing my expression.

(My Gothic Lolita Outfit from Mabinogi…My Gothic Lolita of all things I could wear…seriously? It's so hideous! It doesn't help hide my pochariness! And And MY FEMME FATALE HEADBAND and SHOES?!….DO I LOOK LIKE A LOLI?! NO! DO I LOOK LIKE A GOTH?! NOOOOO! I AM NOT A LOLI OR GOTH!...I need new clothes….come to think of it…where is my nightgown I was wearing before we got here?...) "Nothing….nothing at all…" the sound of loud snoring began echoing in the hall and I had to stop myself from laughing.

"Ever-vigilant as usual…With the way he's sleeping, it'll be a while before anyone notices I'm gone. If I come back before morning they'll never be the wiser to my little jailbreak. I think I can get you two out of here, check on the Lower Quarter, ask Hanks if he can make some arrangements to look after you two for a while, and make it back by morning. It'd probably be good to try that statue of the goddess, too."

I couldn't help but smile, he had his plan made, but his plans were about to be ruined by Estelle, Leblanc, Leviathan's Claw, and Zagi. I visibly blanched, Zagi, I was not looking forward to that….."You're coming back? I guess that makes sense, wouldn't want them to hoard you in here for months or years due to jailbreak." He merely nodded in acknowledgement as we walked up ahead to the front where the sleeping knight is.

* * *

-*-Back In Jail-*-

Yuri: Back again. Man, I was just in here last month for fighting some Knights collecting taxes.

Liana: Just last month? Wow, you must like it here or something then.

Yuri: Not really, but I guess I get free meals out of it, if you can call it food.

Liana: *blanches* I don't think I'd ever want to eat prison food ever in my life, I've heard so many stories back on Earth on it.

Yuri: Oh really? Like?

Liana: *whispers*

Yuri: ! Y-You're kidding right? *his eyes opened wide with his shocked avatar expression that he has in skits on his face*

Liana: *looks sickly green* Nope, and that may not be the worst of it.

Yuri: *sighs* Well there goes any chance of me eating anything they'll bring me in the next few days…..Damn. Cumore's made this way more complicated than it needed to be.

Kairi: Cumore?

Yuri: ! It's nothing.

* * *

I recalled somethings from the game as we passed the guard, Yuri apparently looking for his belongings; there was an apple gel in Yuri's cell (Hey that rhymed~ hehe) and a magic lens on the barrels behind the sleeping knight. I quickly began running back, "Hey! Where are you going?" Yuri asked a bit angrily but quietly since the guard was right there. "I wanna make sure I left nothing in the cell," I lied, I just wanted that apple gel for safe keeps, "I'll be right back I promise." With a defeated sigh from Yuri I took that as an A OK sign and ran back, finding the apple gel underneath the pillow and thankfully not in the toilet. I giggled slightly as I recalled a skit in Tales of Zestiria with Sorey finding an Apple Gel in the toilet wondering if it could still be used.

I ran back to see Yuri and Kairi talking about something across the bars of the prison's entrance, Yuri had his sword back, and Kairi was holding a bag in her left arm, another bag across her shoulders, and…THE BLACK MASK STAFF I DYED WHITE FOR HER IS IN HER RIGHT HAND WITH THE HEALING WAND STICKING OUT OF HER BAG?! WHAT ARE THOSE DOING HERE?! IT'S NOT EVEN VESPERIA RELATED! I quickly nicked the magic lens and approached them, more questions just piling on.

Noticing me approaching they both turned to me, "So leave anything in there?" Yuri asked. "Nah, but I did find this," I stated showing him the Apple Gel and Magic Lens. "Hmm, guess it's not like the knights will need them," he eyed me somewhat suspiciously, "by the way that's yours" he finished, pointing to the bag that's tucked in Kairi's left arm. (Huh?) I looked at Kairi incredulously and she showed me the tag that was on the bag, in bold English writing was the name **LIANA** , my eyes couldn't have gotten any wider in surprise. "What the, why's my name on it?" I couldn't hold my mouth closed to that, this was becoming more confusing. "So you can read it too, because I sure can't," Yuri said. "Yeah, it's English, it's one of the many languages on Earth, but I don't own any other bag than my Sonic the Hedgehog backpack, and we don't have time to tell stories about what's what for now, or speculate on the origin of these bags, you said you needed to get back by morning" I shot that down when Yuri looked like he was about to ask what was a 'Sonic the Hedgehog', we've spent more time here than needed, we gotta get to Estelle. "If we don't hurry, you might not make it back in time before morning, and then you might be stuck here for months, we don't want that so-." Yuri cut Kairi off with a nod and ran a bit ahead and gestured us to follow, I knew he was gonna want to ask so many questions, but right now wasn't the best of times, but still…

' _Hey Kairi.'_

' _Hm? What? Is it about the bags? I don't know how they got here either, but-'_

An evil smirk painted my face, _'How did it feel to be on top of Yuri?'_ Ah how I needed to get this nagging need to tease Kairi about her crush on Yuri mercilessly out of my system~

Her face turned a tomato red at the recollection, _'LIANA!'_

* * *

Yay we got a new party member: Yuri Lowell :D! Wait…its Yuri got 2 new party members LOLZ. Though yeah, I said Takepon for Takemoto because in the Talesring Vesperia Drama CD's that's how he introduces himself in the ending talks (Takepoyon~ X3), he's not only great as the old man's seiyuu, but he's a fun person in general XD! Poor Yuri, if he ever goes to jail he's gonna starve….and the Black Mask Staff and Party Healing wand belong to Mabinogi, I'd post a picture of them but too lazy to do that right now since their not in full use yet, if you'd like to know more you can search up Black Mask Staff Mabinogi in google and read about it and it's stats and stuff from the mabinogiworld wiki and use that wiki to see the healing wand. Also yes, I am pochari (chubby), not by much, but *pinches flab* I'm not bikini material either lolz :P

Justin: Yup ya sure ain't, the boobs make up for it though.

HEY! You trying to say I'm fat?! I'm not! I'm just generous DX! By the way…where are you?

Justin: Secret….

:P lolz Next time, we meet Zagi *shivers* XP Ugh I'mma die….


	4. 3: Estellise Sidos Heufry Whatever

Onward we go! Its official, I got no vacation *sniffles**sobs* I was so looking forward to it too, but yeah I don't get a say and my say means nothing…

Kairi: Disclaimer- Liana doesn't own Vesperia, it's plot, Justin, or Caryn; she only owns herself, her work in this fic and me, that's all. Now gimme my 10$.

*forks over cash* I can't believe I gotta pay you to do the disclaimers.

Kairi: Why don't you just do them yourself?

Cause their so boring…..anyways on with the fic cause I know 1 person at least wants it. *points to Caryn giving puppy dog eyes*

Kairi: Well it is brand new, and it's not as intriguing.

WELL WHAT DO I DO! ALL THE GOOD SHET GOT TAKEN UP DX ROLL THE DAMN FILM!

*film rolls to show the fan fiction*

* * *

We reached the end of the hallway that leads to the prison, the game did it no justice; it was larger than I thought it would be, A LOT larger and longer. Along the way I peeked into my bag, nothing out of the ordinary, a pouch with a picture of a gel on it, another medium pouch with a picture of a coin from Mario on it (WTF?)...…..oh and my NIGHT GOWN and SLIPPERS (Seriously, how did those get there?!)! Kairi's bag had the same pouches that I did, Morrighan's outfit that I normally do fan art of her in there, along with her Healing Wand. I gave up all sense of logical thinking at that point, I just assumed it was to have back up clothing that's why they're there.

At the entrance Yuri ducked on the pillar like he did in the game to avoid the top floor Knight's view… (WHY ON THE PILLAR?! WHY NOT HIDE BEHIND IT?! ASDFGHASGFADHG YURI!) I hid with Kairi behind the pillar, as that was what logic told me to do, but I couldn't help but rage inside at the sight before me, Yuri seriously….

I was about to actually say something when he just darted out from the pillar, he's supposed to get seen by a guard anyway so I kept my mouth shut, I'll chew him up afterwards on being more ninja like than he already is supposed to be. On cue, the knight near the stairs spotted him, "Who's there!" Yuri face palmed before muttering, "Argh, they spotted me!" he turned to us and motioned for us to stay put behind the pillar….like hell we were gonna do that, but we complied to have the edge of surprise.

Yuri began fighting with the two knights, for a below a level 5, he was pretty dang good, but it was obvious that 2 on 1 wasn't helping as the other would get him when his focus was on one knight (Where's the dang badass Yuri that took on just about an ENTIRE GUILD in a bar and owned their asses barehanded?!). "Kairi, can you hit them with a fully charged thunder bolt, the both of them? I know it's a low rank, but just enough to stun the other one?" I asked; because, along with the teasing down the hall way I had asked her about if she could use her Mabinogi abilities, while she didn't give me a 100%, she said she could feel the knowledge to perform them there, there was just one problem.

"I could, but how am I gonna get the mana for it? I'm not sure how to convert aer into mana, nor do I have a formula to do so." Ah, I had forgotten about that, "Um, just try to use the aer, aer is an unstable form of mana so it should work," that had to be one plot point in Vesperia that made not much sense to me, "if not then I guess try to convert it yourself, I mean Rita uses incantations to use hers….although she has a blastia and those use aer, so conversion is…..ugh I'mma die here…." "GAH!" Yuri let out a swear as the other knight managed to hit him on his stomach, which was still in pain from our assault. "Ok I'll give it a try" she said making up her mind, Kairi closed her eyes, focusing until she suddenly fell over gasping and coughing, "….can't…..breathe….aer….chest…so tight…." The sound of Kairi's coughing and her staff falling at her side caught the guard's attention, "Hey there's another one! Get her!"

"Damn it!" Yuri swore as the other knight charged toward Kairi, sword drawn (Seriously…she may have a weapon on her, but she's obviously in distress you asshats!). So much for surprise, when he seemed close enough I dropped down from my hiding spot behind the pillar, grabbing Kairi's staff and with all the force I could muster; stood up, swung, and slammed the staff into the side of his helm like I was smashing a baseball with a baseball bat, making him fall over, still conscious. "Damn I woulda thought that'd knock you out," I gasped almost seemingly outta breath due to that adrenaline burst, "seriously, what's with men having to be stronger and more stamina that women, not fair." As he began to get up I began thinking of how to deal with this guy, one option, I slammed the staff down on the gap joint of his head and shoulder hard as I could where no armor was and he finally went unconscious, "Sorry, but you kinda deserve that."

I turned to Yuri who was now walking over to us dragging the other knight unconscious behind him, "I thought I signaled for you two to stay back." Ah cha, lecture time, "Well if you didn't look like you were getting your ass handed to ya, we wouldn't have stepped in" I lied, we just really wanted to help. "I could've dealt with them both just fine. Any way are you ok?" he gestured to Kairi who was still on the floor. "Yes, I-I'm fine, just one second," Kairi still was having trouble with trying to breathe after her attempt to use aer. "Sure don't look like it, what happened, here," Yuri offered his hand to help her up, Kairi's face pinkened up and she turned away quickly so he wouldn't see and scrambled on her feet, "N-NO! Seriously! I'm fine! I just fell over! See! Good as new! Now let's go." I'd have to ask her about what happened later, and options on how to remedy it. "Yeah, my rap sheet is long enough as it is. But guess I don't have much choice but to fight if they discover us. We need to be wary of these guys on patrol." Yuri said, which reminded me, "Seriously, hiding on the pillar rather than behind it and jolting out after only focusing on above and without looking completely around, isn't what I would call wary." He gave me an 'are we really doing this right now' look before sighing in defeat, "Alright you win, let's just be more cautious from here on. No running off for things." "Aye aye Capitan!" I saluted as he nodded, grabbed the other knight, and dragged both knights into the shadows to hide them; guess I won't be grabbing that Holy bottle, Orange gel, Life Bottle, and Cape unless we ventured in those directions.

We did enter into the hallway that led to the Life Bottle and Cape while the knight had his back turned, seeing that it was a dead end Yuri began to back track until spotting me open up the chest and take the Life bottle, "Why do you keep doing that?" I looked up at the dark haired swordsman who was staring down at me questioningly, "Doing what?" "Taking things that aren't yours," I visibly huffed, "Hey this is a castle remember, a CASTLE, it's not like they'll be missing these things, plus I doubt these things are that expensive, it's not like I swiped the royal tiara/scepter/ruby etc., besides who puts something like this in a chest? I am a curious human being." (Really I just want it in case something happens during the Zagi fight). Yuri looked like he was in thought before shaking his head and telling us to hurry along before that knight outside the hallway found us, frankly upon exit he did and I swiped an orange gel off him and the crates behind him too earning more sighs from Yuri (He'll thank me for this someday XD ).

Once more Yuri jolted out from the hallway, but ran back, "Yuri, what did I say about-" he cut me off with pushing us both back against the wall behind the pillar and holding his finger to his lips to keep us quiet. I could hear footsteps, 2 sets, 3, I crossed my fingers silently praying (Please let that be Estelle, please let that be her and not Leblanc and the tweedles, we wasted so much time!). "Why don't we just go back?" I heard a male say, didn't sound like Tweedle A or B nor Leblanc which means. "I can't go back now!" Estelle's voice shouted, I inwardly sighed in relief though my dirty adult mind began turning the cogs drowning out the conversation once more (God damn that guy with that 'why don't we go back' line his tone was…it's like a pouty boyfriend asking his girlfriend to come back to him…or to get back in bed with him…curse you Jen for showing me that R-18 doujinshi of Ragou scheming and having Estelle whore herself off to the knights/anything with a dick! Hm, come to think of it…..it never got explained just what Estelle wanted to tell Flynn…if it was about the assassin's, Flynn already knew and she knew, but rather than go back with Leblanc and the others she still wanted to tell Flynn something…..and I recall the knights saying some incident…..fuck unexplained plot devices….)

"I know how to use a sword!" I heard the other knight mentioned no other choice and two swords being drawn; Ah fuck, we needed to help her, she might be **able** to take them both on, but she **doesn't** have much heart to hurt anyone and hasn't learned that she has to do what she has to do for self-defense which gives her a **BIG** disadvantage. "Hey! There she is! This way!" I head more footsteps incoming, sheesh what incident was so bad that so many knights had to chase her around the castle, "Please, you've got to let me go! I have to warn Flynn!" Didn't that catch Yuri's attention, with one Azure Edge he blasted 2 knights out cold (Hey? Why didn't he do that earlier rather than get his ass kicked around). "Flynn…?! You came to help me…?!" Boy she sounded like a girl who got saved by the man she loves (Wrong name though hunny hehe). Yuri turned to me and gave us both a very strict look, "This time stay back and hidden until its safe, I mean it." We both agreed, I guess in that last fight we proved we can't do much but get in the way….damn I hated this, I could see the disappointment on Kairi's face too. As he walked out I could hear Estelle's tone change, "W-Who are you?" (Sorry princess, your Knight is in another castle) "Identify yourself!" the second knight asked as Yuri waltzed up to them like he didn't care. "Man, just when I thought I was being sneaky, things have to go to hell." (You call darting out from hallways and hiding in front of pillars being sneaky?) "Careful, I think he's got a blastia." Mr. Boyfriend knight stated (yup you're the boyfriend knight after that weird ass tone and line buddy). "It shouldn't be a problem if we take him together." (Ah my dirty Yaoi mind why you kick in now) I had to cover my mouth to hide any snickers that wanted to come out.

The battle didn't last too long, after fighting knights in duo pairs 3 times in one day (1 with the tweedles, 1 with us, and another after exiting the hallway with the goddess orb statue thing), Yuri practically leveled up and learned how to handle 2 knights at a time pretty fast in this fourth battle. "Don't they teach these guys manners in knight school anymore?" (Oh like you Mr. Perfect graces?) I then stopped my thoughts at the sight of Estelle creeping upon Yuri, vase in arms, if that actually hits him then we can kiss all plots goodbye.

"Yuri! BEHIND YOU!" Kairi shouted out first, "Yuri you ass! 6'o clock! DO A BARREL ROLL!" I shouted!

"Barrel what?! Whoa!" Yuri quickly turned to us and spotted Estelle with the vase and jumped outta the way just in time. "Hey! What, are you trying to kill me?" Yuri asked incredulously to the girl he just 'saved'. Estelle looked over at us for a moment before returning to Yuri and responding, "Well…none of you belong in the castle, right?" This was one of those moments during a second play through that caught my attention, sweet beloved Estelle, who wouldn't hurt a fly, basically didn't deny she tried to kill Yuri after he saved her from the knights, and basically responded if she had her reason was cause he didn't belong in the castle, despite that he proved he wasn't a bad guy or meant her harm…(Kinda rude and disrespectful if you think about it, guess people overlook it cause you're so cute to them).

"No, and I'll take it as a compliment that you can tell that by looking at me." Me and Kairi came out from behind the pillar and joined the group as Leblanc's LOUD voice echoed in the room "Yuri Looowell! Where are yooou?" Yuri had the most amused look on his face as I covered my ears and Kairi visibly winced at the shout, but it quickly turned to a sigh and irritation at the tweedles.

"You foul fugitive! I say, we know you're trying to make your escape with 2 fair maidens as hostages! How low can you get!" Adecor shouted, making me twitch (A hostage?! I'mma castrate whoever sent that report to them on us being hostages! I AM NOT A FUCKING HOSTAGE FOR ANYONE! RAWRRRR!), Kairi only slightly flushed but frowned at the implications of Yuri kidnapping us.

"Oh please, not them again. Guess there's no point in going back to the prison cell now." Yuri replied, "I'm so sorry…" Kairi said apologetically, "Damn, sorry, I shouldn't have slowed us down…" we both knew that he wasn't going to be able to go back, but we had to act like we didn't know and that his plans were now screwed. "Hey, it's ok. It's not your fault," Yuri told us both pretty nicely, but he looked like he was about to laugh when Leblanc's voice once again had me slapping my hands on my ears and Kairi wincing, "Louder, fools! Say it like you mean it!" "Lieutenant Leblanc, your voice is TOO loud. My ears…" Boccos complained, even poor Boccos was being tormented by Leblanc's overly loud voice.

"Yuri Lowell? You're one of Flynn's friends, aren't you?" Estelle broke our focus on the tweedle brigade, her tone sure did change from suspicious to happy, she was even smiling (Oh so saving you doesn't make him a good person, but being Flynn's friend does?...Seriously there was so much wrong with this after more than one play through…if she wasn't needed for the plot I'd just ditch her).

"Yeah. Why?" His tone had gone from nice to about what I would call normal Yuri. "And you used to belong to the Imperial Knights?" (She makes him sound like he's something that can be bought and owned LOLZ and cue the advertisement for the Vesperia game where you can own your own Yuri Lowell for the small price of 7.99$, but seriously with that smile it's like she's preparing to bid on him at an auction).

As if sensing my thoughts Yuri turned away from Estelle towards us before responding, "Just for three short months." (And in those three short months….you met people who meant so much to you, lost them, gained new friends and a fluffy new partner, and learned you couldn't do things your way with the knights) "You hear that from Flynn?" He turned his head to glance at her, "Yes" She had said that so uncertainly (Where else could you have heard it from? Do the knights bitch about him to Estelle or what? Did one of them fuck you senseless calling Yuri's name cause he's gay for Yuri while you were whoring yourselves to them or what...damn you Caryn and Jen….).

"Huh. Guess he managed to find someone at the castle he could talk to after all" he was still looking at her cautiously. (Well she did try to kill him, and she was being pursued by knights, he isn't at 100% trust with her yet, but eventually he will, and as for us….I don't know…..) My thoughts were halted when Estelle ran in front of both me and Kairi to meet Yuri's gaze, "Yuri! I need to talk to Flynn!" (So what are we chopped liver? It's because we aren't on Flynn's friends list isn't is.) I could feel my gaze turning to look dumbly at her completely ignoring us, Yuri once again turning away from her and taking a few steps away from her, "Hold on just a second. Who are you supposed to be anyway? I can tell you know Flynn, but why are you being chased by the Knights?"

"Over here!"

The sudden shout brought us back to the fact that we are trying to escape. "Listen, I want to hear the whole story, but the three of us can't really afford to stand around and chat with you." Huh? Wait. He needs to take Estelle along, why's he sounding like he ain't? "First things first, let's get to Flynn's place. Want me to lead the way?" God dammit Yuri Lowell you're gonna give me a heartache and it won't be funny when it does. "Ah, yes!" Estelle replied back in shock, bet she was thinking he was gonna ditch her too. "Let's go," he gave us three a look before walking on up ahead, all 3 of us behind him.

We didn't get too far down the hall when, "…Mmm? Something smells tasty" Yuri suddenly spoke up. "Oh, you're right. What could it be?" Estelle wondered, "It kinda smells like curry" I spoke up, "Grwaaawwweeerrrrrrrr." Estelle jumped in fright, Yuri turned around sword drawn to face whatever had made that growl, and I merely sweat dropped as I turned to the source: blushing madly, with her arms wrapped around her tummy…..was Kairi…."Sorry…." was her only response. As if to reply to her apology my tummy spoke too, "Greeeeerrrr"….Damn I forgot I hadn't eaten anything since I woke up and showered, which felt like hours ago, and Kairi has never really had to eat before until now, I could feel myself going red too. "The both of you? Sheesh, I thought for a moment monsters got in," Yuri complimented before thinking, "Oh yeah, isn't the knights' dining hall around here?" As he spotted the door he began heading towards it, "Ah, what about Flynn?" Estelle asked (Good grief girl settle down, the 3 of us are starving!) "You've heard the old saying, right? You can't fight on an empty stomach" Yuri said as he entered, both me and Kairi following after him, with Estelle slowly, poutily following behind us.

"Mmmm this stuff is soooo good!" I had never had curry in my life….ever! After today I was gonna need to find curry recipes to make once I got home….if I could get home. Kairi was eating so happily and Estelle was still pouty, "Not bad" Yuri commented. Once Kairi finished her plate she got up for seconds, only to find the pot now empty, she sighed a bit sadly and sat back down waiting for us to finish eating. "Graaawrrrr" Kairi's tummy spoke again, only this time not as loud and extensive, "You aren't going to get more?" Yuri asked. Kairi shook her head, "No, sorry, there isn't anymore" he looked down at his bowl before pushing it over to Kairi, "Here, I'm full already, so you can have what's left of mine." I didn't need to be psychic to know what was gonna happen next, her face became a tomato and she looked down to hid her face behind her bangs, "N-N-NO! THAT'S NOT NECESSARY!" she squeaked out, "B-Besides, you're the one w-w-w-whose fighting, I-I don't need it…." Another growl of her tummy and I couldn't watch this anymore, I draped my arm over her shoulder, "Kairi…" she turned to me a bit and I telepathically began to speak with her.

' _Just eat up, he's giving you that look like he won't budge until you do, also it's obvious your tummy isn't going to hush up until you do.'_

She mumbled a bit to herself until, _'b-but, If I use his spoon…..isn't that an indirect kiss?'_

…. _'Is that what you're worried about? Just use your spoon if you don't wanna worry about indirect kissing.'_

She glared at me a bit, _'I'm seriously worrying about it and you think it's nothing? I mean….I might not ever get the chance to do it again….but….ahhh it's sooooo embarrassing…'_

I felt myself sigh in defeat, _'Suit yourself, I don't care if we miss Zagi, but I rather not get caught by the tweedles, don't think he wants to be either.'_

"Kairi," she dared to look up as Yuri called her name, "If you're worried about if I'm hungry, I'm fine, I had some prison food earlier today" he caught my smirk and turned away from me "besides, we wouldn't want you nearly fainting on us again, so eat up."

Seems he thought Kairi fell over earlier due to hunger, looking at Kairi I was surprise to see she was no longer blushing, not even a fidget, she just stared at him for a while, with a smile that seemed to get bigger with each second until "Thank you so much, Yuri!" She was smiling from the bottom of her heart, that was something I hadn't seen in a while…..guess I'll lay off the teasing for a while. Estelle just watched the exchange as confused as could be. As I relaxed waiting for Kairi to finish, I noticed….she was using Yuri's spoon….AGH the urge to tease her is building up and I just promised! Fate could be so cruel to me…

Four Knights and 2 treasure chests later, and Wala, Flynn's room was in sight. "Yeah, it was around here…" Estelle spoke up (Oh really it's not the door to your left? Seriously it's right there sweetie….). "This is Flynn's room" Yuri state the obvious pointed out to the door on her left, she could only turn her head left, cover her mouth with her hands and nod (She couldn't see the forest through the trees lolz). As Yuri entered the room I stopped for second, it was dark, so dark, but I knew if I was gonna keep traveling with Yuri I'd have to put up with it, though I coped with clinging to Yuri's back, "What the! Hey! What's up now?" I couldn't stop shaking, I'm in the dark, I'm in the dark, but I'm not alone, I'm not alone, I'm not alone, I'm not alone, I'm not alone, I'm not alone, "….."

"You OK back there?" Yuri asked.

"She's afraid of being alone in the dark" Kairi spoke up as she entered the room Estelle following behind, "It's a childhood fear, something we couldn't get over."

"We, huh? Yet somehow you're just fine." Yuri pointed out.

"Cause I know I'm not alone in the dark, so I'm not afraid." That hit me, I know I'm not alone, Yuri's here, Estelle's here, Kairi's here, but still….Why was I so freaked out? Was it because I knew Zagi was gonna be coming? ...Yeah I'll blame it on Zagi… I let go of Yuri's vest and felt around to sit on Flynn's bed, "I-I'm OK now…" I replied shakily, I pictured Caryn getting pissed off at me being able to sit on Flynn's 'bed' and I could picture her poutily saying 'What, you were on his bed, but didn't roll around on it, or sniff his pillow and sheets, or lay in it! Switch lives with me!' I had to hold back giggles, I sat waiting for my eyes to adjust with the small light coming from the curtains before calmly replying, Kairi coming to sit beside me "I'm OK now."

Yuri looked around the room, "He's really keeping this place cleaned up…" he looked a bit jealous from what I could now make out, and I remembered how his half of the room during the First Strike looked like and I got why, "Flynn must be off gallivanting around somewhere." "Then…That means I'm too late." Estelle spoke up, clearly upset, I just really wanted to tell her that Flynn was a big boy, he could look after himself, but….gah just can't. "So what sort of wickedness did you do anyway?" Yuri asked, clearly wanting answers as to why the knights were after her (Honestly, so did I, it was never explained why the Knights were after her). "Me? I haven't done anything wrong." (Yup that was convincing….) "And yet a bunch of knights were chasing you around the castle… Yeah, that makes sense." He walked over to me and Kairi, hand on his chin in thought. "Um, you see… Yuri!" (Gosh do you have to shout?) She succeeded in starling Yuri though as me and Kairi stared at her dumbly for her sudden outburst, though we had been the same not too long ago in the cell, so I understood how she was feeling, she just wanted to see Flynn and get out of the castle to warn him, every second becomes agony, "Whoa…What is it?" Yuri asked. "I can't be specific, but Flynn is in terrible danger! I've got to go and warn him." (And just why can't you be specific? If he's in danger why not confide in his friend who just saved your ass and proved he means no harm, and tell him so he doesn't have to be in the dark! ….I have no right to say, I'm still keeping Vesperia in the dark as well….I hated Estelle sometimes…) Yuri sat down right next to me on the bed he still looked like he was thinking, " So go if you want to go. What's wrong with that?" "I wish I knew…" Estelle responded sadly (Well it's not like a Princess can gallivant outside the palace without escort and guards, watching Aladdin proved that when Jasmine almost had her arm cut off when she gave a child an apple without paying because no one knew who she was, and since Estelle never leaves the castle no one knows what she looks like other than big wigs in the Empire, the populace probably may or may not know they even have a prince and princess).

"Listen, I've got something I've gotta take care of right away, too. As soon as things quiet down outside I want to get these two back to the lower quarter." I felt myself smile, he really is a good guy even if he doesn't show it too often openly, Kairi was smiling as well. Estelle ran over to Yuri, hands clasped together, begging, "In that case, would you take me with you as well? Please? Other than Flynn, there's no one I can depend on. Will you at least help me get out of the castle?" she bowed deeply, her tone pleading, "Please, I'm begging you." Yuri turned to look at us for a moment and we gave him a nod, we knew he wanted to ask us if it was okay, it was more than OK, we both knew she was a bigger necessity than the two of us.

"Okay I can see you're serious, but why don't you tell me your name first?" Yuri asked her, no answer came as that moment the door was kicked open off its hinges, and there stood one of my most hated/infuriating characters in Vesperia, Zagi.

"Aaah!" Estelle backed off and Kairi began to crawl a little back on the bed while I slowly thought to myself what me and Kairi were going to do, what could we do.

"Prepare to fall victim to my blade…" and with one swoop of his sword and change in expression yet another vase became a victim, yeah with this guy here, my fear of the dark was well warranted. Seeing Kairi and I unnerved, Yuri got up from his place on the bed, "Haven't you ever heard of knocking?" Yup that was Yuri alright, even in the worst of situations, he could be so smug, I didn't feel as frightened as before surprisingly.

"I am Zagi…The man who will end your life. Now die, Flynn Scifo!" and with a Rick roll the battle begun.

* * *

Justin: Hey you lied!

Hm? How?

Justin: You said we'd get to Zagi today?

I said we'd get to meet him, not fight him and it's not like your there so STFU. Yeah the R-18 doujinshi was the Mangetsu San Tan 1-3, 3 doujinshi's with Estelle that my friend Jen showed me one day, and that Caryn likes to make me think dirty thoughts more often than none, curse you two.

Caryn: Speaking of me, when am I gonna get in?

….At the pace we're at, we won't get to you for a while.

Caryn: DAMMIT DX

Justin: What about me?

Closer to seeing you than Caryn.

Caryn: Oh now that's bullshit DX

Next time: :D We get out of this blasted Castle and perhaps the Capital~


	5. 4: I don't like you, You I don't like

Yay Zagi fight time….just letting you know….I suck at writing combat, and I fail at combat in general, I can with against my cousins….but let's face it this is Zagi the hell I'mma win XD LOLZ

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Tales of Vesperia, Mabinogi related stuff, Caryn, and Justin in any way or form. I only own MYSELF, Kairi, and my work in this fiction!

* * *

The three swords clashed on each other, the sound of the swords shaking from the force could he heard throughout the room, as Yuri had raised his sword to block Zagi's dual swords from his roll in entrance. "You got the wrong guy!" Yuri shouted at him angrily, only to be met with a smug 'I don't care I just want to kill you' look from Zagi, "Die." "You really should listen a little more," Yuri continued as he slid his blade back to hop back onto Flynn's bed away from Zagi to gain more distance, only for Zagi to charge him swinging, "My name is Zagi. Remember it well Flynn." Well there goes Flynn's bed…

Estelle, Kairi, and I moved away from the now broken bed, despite my earlier claim to being alright I clutched Kairi's shawl on her arm, watching with wide eyes at the conflict going on; Flynn's room was going to hell surely as the feathers from his shredded up pillow flew about told me, but I was still thinking of what the heck we could do along with the scene unfolding before me. "Listen, I'm not Flynn!" Yuri tried more calmly despite the irritation that was certainly in his tone (Really Yuri, I'd have figured out by now that he doesn't give a damn if your Flynn or the President of the United States…).

"Hehe, oh what's wrong," Zagi said in a whiny voice, I had to choke back a laugh, I had thought about it; if Zagi could give up his life of killing, come to earth, and use the internet, he'd be the world's best troll. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" Yuri the psychiatrist asked, no seriously, all he needs is a tailored suit, a clip board, some nice glasses, an expensive fountain pen, a chaise lounge, and a chair and Yuri could be the Earth's greatest Psychiatrist, saving the world by solving people's problems by hitting them with harsh truths and no sugar coated words, one at a time!...Oh and murdering the corrupted power houses…that's a plus…My brain was so broken right now.

"I'm gonna to kill you, and carve your name into my blood," Zagi replied casually as Flynn's dresser was now in shambles (…I got no comment to that…although he does sound like a seriously infatuated boyfriend/ stalker/murderer). "Really…," I had to let that one slip, my yaoi brain/ smut brain/ whatever is left brain was turning, "he is like…completely homicidal sexual or something…." (Nah that's just Zagi, but maybe….) I had to shake my head at the thoughts that suddenly followed, scenes that would be too much for our M rating here in this fic.

"Yeeeaaaahh… that's pretty disgusting." Yuri managed to get out while avoiding Zagi's blade, I couldn't tell if he was directing that at Zagi or me, probably both. Zagi was getting cocky and for a moment I thought I heard him counting to three, only for Yuri to cut his cheek after he managed to cut Yuri's hand, he chuckled like his mad self though he wasn't in full 'I feel alive' mode, "Hoooo Yeah. This is gonna be FUN!"

I tried remembering his stats as he hopped around the room after Yuri, I know he doesn't have A LOT of HP, less than 5k, but I don't know how much damage Yuri is putting up either, curse not being able to see it on a screen. I remembered he had a weakness to water, but he was resistant to fire, (Just where do we get water from? Kairi can't use her ice bolt, ice spear, or hail storm right now…their pretty low in rank too other than her ice bolt being rank 4, so everything else wouldn't hurt so much, probably 75 and below damage if I had to guess on those weren't weak to water…but gosh it would be helpful, hail storm could blast away giving distance but still doing damage, ice spear could freeze for a period which would allow being able to move away as well….but that mana and aer issue….) his HP still eluded my mind, gah where's my Complete Japanese Vesperia Guide Book that despite its Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji, I could figure it out! Or Google senpai….Google senpai can be your friend sometimes…

"Ahh, now I feel it," Zagi spoke up, seems Yuri had finally done enough damage to initiate the second half of the fight, took him long enough. "You feel what? I'm not feeling anything over here." Yuri casually stated back, "Yuri. Don't start getting cocky just now," I piped up, my expression was hard, Kairi was giving him a 'take this seriously' look as well, "he's not playing around anymore." Yuri gave us both looks like he didn't recognize us, but I guess he could tell something was up as well, "Yes, so full of confidence" Zagi was slightly breathing this all out (In all honestly I just think he has a huge boner right now like one he's never had before and he's beyond happy about that…), "Ah hah hah!" His expression shifted into one of madness (Yep it's a massive boner that Yuri gave him and his sexual frustration won't let him figure out what to do with it other than slicing things up to oddly satisfy himself, it's the ASMR), "That's it! That's it! Now I feel truly alive!"

"What's with him all of a sudden?" That was all Yuri could get out before Zagi charged once more "Mwa hah hah hah!" Yuri let out a grunt as Zagi's blade collided into his with seemingly more force than before, Estelle couldn't sit still any longer and neither could I. "Yuri, let me help you!" Estelle called out as I reached into my gel pouch and pulled out some apple gels following behind her. "Stay away!" Yuri told us as he swung making Zagi jump back, I showed him an apple gel for a second before shoving them in his mouth; he stared at me like I was mad and something else. (He's probably wondering if I know what an apple gel is and what it's for… oh well, I can play the insanity card later). Estelle looked taken aback by his demand, "But-!" her eyes then widened a bit at seeing me shove apple gels in Yuri's mouth.

"Bring it! The more the merrier!" Zagi said, clearly this time not caring or pouting about having Yuri to himself. (I set myself up for that one…..) "If things get out of hand, run for it" Yuri directed at…me? (Guess he wants me to take Estelle and Kairi if he goes down, like hell you are buddy.) "Okay," I answered, guess It's my turn to try to fight, though then again I don't have to worry about using aer so far, I don't have magic or anything to use other than good old fists. Probably thinking we were gonna retreat Zagi just taunted, "Oh, don't give up so soon" (Oh mah gawd I'm getting a pep speech from Zagi!) "I haven't had a fight like this in years! Hah hah hah! This is FUN!" and with that he was after Yuri once more (F is friends who do stuff together, U is for you and -). I saw the red blade in my vision and managed to dodge that swing just in time with Estelle running back to cast First Aid, probably on Yuri, Yuri gave me a strict look like 'we're in a fight, keep your head on, do something or go where Kairi is' (note to self, no more random thoughts while battling a psychotic homicidal sexual guy…)

"Relax!" Estelle shouted casting first aid on Yuri who was now back in the fray (Yeah take a chill pill brother) "He's just doing that to mess up our fighting!" (Nah it's already messed up with me here). "You relax!" Honestly, Yuri couldn't sound more like a brother arguing with his sister if he tried, I managed to give Zagi a kick to the shins, but that did nothing, "Trust me, he's not thinking that hard!" "So, that's just who he is?" Estelle looks so surprise (Yup, cause baby he was born this way~, GAH FOCUS, FOCUS, NO LADY GAGA RIGHT NOW!) "The more you talk, the faster you die Flynn!" Zagi almost laughed out, as I once again barely managed to dodge Zagi's blade, moving back to let Yuri deal with him mostly. (I have to thank my cousins for all the fights and scraps we'd have just about anywhere at any time when I got back for my surviving this now). "Dammit I am not, URGH," Yuri was getting pissed off, but regained his composure after FINALLY figuring out he was gonna get nowhere with Zagi, "Never mind, you're not listening anyway." (About dang time) "But if it's just a misunderstanding, maybe we can talk!" (Ah Estelle….Naive, Innocent Estelle… where was that earlier when you were gonna kill Yuri? Yup still not letting that go.)

"Ah hah hah hah! Your fate was sealed the moment we met!" Yuri gave Estelle a look of 'are you serious', "You seriously think we can talk to him? Let's just take him out already!"

As Zagi clashed blades with Yuri once more I took the chance to give him a left hook that only rattled him a slight bit, my hand thumped in pain for a bit, (What is he mad of? Steel?!) and hopped back when he was after me (DO. NOT. WANT! NO ME GUSTA! DAREKA TASUKETE KUDASAI!). A blade chopped at Zagi and I now noticed Estelle beside me (Estelle I love you right now~….but just for now, and I don't swing that way…and your still kinda of a bitch…), she was charging at Zagi as we three tried to overwhelm him with not as much effect as me and Yuri got blown back with his Cyclone shot arte, gladly missing Estelle as she ran back to cast first aid again (DAMN THAT HURT! I didn't prepare myself for how bad that was gonna be! Estelle must've taken Yuri's' take him out' quote literally to pull back from healing, AGH! Just how much does HP this asshole have left!)

As Yuri began to overpower Zagi due to his diminishing HP, getting a punch square in Zagi's face much harder than what I had dealt, he began to breathe out slightly chuckling until he began moaning as well, "Ugh, you're strong, eh heh hah hah, ah oh ho hoh, that hurts" (…..Dirty mind….shut up…). A warm ring filled my ears and body (Oh so that's what healing artes feel like, feels tingly hehe), Estelle healed me after healing Yuri, and I ran back to try to see if I could try a wrestling move to get him on his knees that I once learned from a cousin's friend since combat wasn't going good for me so far.

You slip your arms under their arms like you're fixing to us the hold Goku used on Radditz and place both arms up and around the back of the neck linked and press down with all the force you got, trapping their arm movement and forcing them down, I think it was called a Full Nelson. Didn't go like I wanted, once my arms were under him in a half nelson hold, he managed to duck down and bend forward with enough force to launch me off his back.

That threw me way off guard, I wasn't expecting anyone to be able to just toss me like a rag doll (I'm not fat, I'm a bit overweight for my height, but good grief he looks like a twig, what the fuck! My punches are no good, my kicks do nothing, and even wrestling is a no go, but Yuri can punch him to oblivion…Is it blastia that gives Yuri the extra boost or just himself?) I had stayed in my thoughts for a second too long as I saw both blades bearing down on me in his Reaper's Cross arte, SHIT, I wasn't going to be able to dodge in time!

In that moment a small baseball sized ball of fire flew out of nowhere and struck Zagi's chest, making him fly into Flynn's desk. It wasn't just me, Yuri and Estelle had both looked over at who shot that blast with wide eyes. She looked ill and about to pass out, but Kairi had her staff gripped tightly in both her hands, her eyes locked onto the area where Zagi crashed, pressing her staff hard into the floor to keep herself upright, shaking at each gasp she took for air.

She managed to cast 1 charge of fire bolt, despite his resistance to fire, Kairi's got rank 1 in fire bolt and fire ball (R1 is the highest you can go! Mastering the skills does nothing but grant you a title with stat upgrades and most aren't even good after all), so just one of those even if resistant does about 1k-1.5k of damage and higher if not resistant and if it's a critical hit, but still the price to pay to just set out one rather than the full 5 chain cast.

Zagi emerged even more crazed than before, if that was even a possibility, "Ooooh, now that was a good one girlie. Mhm guh eh heh heh heh kuh so good! Hah hah hah you're strong!" he sounded like he could climax any minute, this was odd to look at let alone hear since it never happened in the game. Sensing Zagi's sudden change in interest Yuri spoke up to get his focus off Kairi, "You've got the wrong guy. Aren't you supposed to know this stuff?" "He's not Flynn!" Estelle insisted, trying her best to see if she could solve the situation/misunderstanding in her case with words.

"Yeah! Does he even look like Flynn?!" I shouted, swiftly turning to Yuri with a dumb/confused look on my face, "You don't right?"

"Not in the least," Estelle replied to me with a tiny tone of disapproval that I would dare to say Yuri looked like Flynn. Zagi's focus didn't waiver from Kairi, "Details! Details! Bring it!" Despite that he still appeared to have energy left, he look more exhausted than he should from what I could recall from the game, man, Kairi must've hit a critical when he was already way below 500 HP. "This guy's nuts." (Deez nuts…couldn't help that one), "Flynn sure has made some interesting enemies."

On cue, a red eyes entered into the room to usher Zagi away, "Zagi, we're leaving. The Knights are onto us." I could relax a bit since I knew Zagi was about to be taking his leave, the red eye's voice actor sounded familiar, wonder who it was. I had to cringe at the sound of the impact on Zagi's punch on that guy's face, nose breaking, Zagi must be so pissed that his fun is being put on hold right now. The red eyes got up, wiping the blood dripping down his nose and chin, clearly not happy, "How dare you!"

Zagi wasn't taking his eyes off Kairi, this wasn't good, his focus is supposed to be Yuri, "Hah hah hah! Mind your own business! I'm just getting to the best part!" Even though I was expecting this to go like how I knew it was supposed to go, I didn't get too cocky, I stood in front of Kairi, Yuri soon following and standing in front all three of us in case Zagi decided to charge. "Hurry, before the Knights get here. Or would you rather have your fun end today?" (Come to think of it, just why were the Red Eyes and Blood Alliance here? Perhaps to stir trouble with the Knights and Guilds to spark war? Though that doesn't explain why the assassins were out for Flynn….)

I wasn't prepared to witness what came next, 3 swings and Zagi sliced the red eyes guy up, blood splattering here and there with each slash, a pained choked gurgling scream coming from him as he sank into the ground, I felt myself shivering; that could be us, we who have nothing to do in this world…us… (This… this is madness…) for once I couldn't even reply to my own thoughts with my usual randomness even though I had left the joke/pun available to use. Zagi gave Kairi and Yuri a smug smile before grabbing the body, dragging it off, and leaving (That would explain why the body wasn't in the hall in the game).

"We should be getting a move on, too," Yuri told us, clearly wanting to just get out of this castle already. He began walking up to Kairi who was still a bit dizzy, I turned to her as well gauging if she would need help. "Here, use me as a crutch for now," I put her arm around my shoulder and supported her and she nodded and complied. "…We'll just go pay a visit to the goddess and be on our way" Yuri seemed like he wanted to say something else, but decided to hold it back after seeing me support Kairi up (Probably wanted to ask how she did that with no blastia…dang he'll ask later). "Yuri, um." Estelle finally spoke up from near the door. "Yeah, I know. We'll all stick together until we're out of the castle." He was like a big brother looking after 3 younger sisters, albeit I'm the older one in this pile (But I got my childish heart!).

"Oh. Right. But I was going to say, my name is Estellise." Finally I had something to call her by, without worrying about slipping my tongue, that was SOOOOO HARD. "And I'm Liana, Liana Banda! This I Kairi!" I spoke up introducing myself and Kairi since we hadn't done so before. "O-oh, nice to meet you as well" she said startled with a bow…somehow…that came out a bit rude…."Well then, Estellise, Liana, Kairi, let's get moving." Yuri began walking out the door until Estellise decided to protest. "Wait, we can't just leave the door like that..." (Really? Do you want out of this castle or not Estelle? Seriously, this room is already decked! What good does it do to fix the door?!) I seriously couldn't think of anything to say…..this was one the most ridiculous pieces of the game…Kairi just seemed to sigh already knowing Yuri would fix it.

"I really don't think this is the time to worry about something like that," Yuri responded with the biggest eyes I had ever seen him put on "But…!" and with puppy dog eyes, Estellise wins the round. With a sigh Yuri of course caved in, "All right, all right. Just….Just give me a minute." This was ridiculous to watch, we're trying to escape and here we are waiting on Yuri to fix a door with partly broken hinges. Kairi just looked away, probably feeling jealous and upset that Yuri would fall for Estellise's puppy dog eyes (If she ever met Justin, she'd never be able to get away with anything or make him do anything using that, he considers that to be a bitch move and said bitch would be slapped for even thinking she could).

After about 13 minutes Yuri was done, "There, good as new. Now let's get going." He turned and began walking down the hall way, me and Kairi following quickly behind him. (Seriously! Let's go before she asks him to fix the bed, dresser, wardrobe, desk, vase, and basically everything in Flynn's room!) "O-okay…!" Estelle said rather uncertainly and panickingly as she ran to catch up with us. I inwardly groaned, (Don't tell me she was honestly thinking about it…).

After a while we ended up in the balcony like area above the indoor garden area place; fire and smoke was coming from the garden below. "I wonder if this is because of those guys earlier. They better not try to pin this on me too." Yuri said pouting at the thought of being accused of a crime he didn't commit. "I hope no one was hurt" Estelle said, worry clearly in her tone. (Sweetie, these are Knights, they're big boys and girls who signed up for this, fully aware of the dangers of their job.) "Don't worry about the Knights. They'll make sure to protect themselves" ah I loved how Yuri kinda secretly insinuated that the Knights would prioritize themselves over what they're supposed to protect most times. "Yes… I guess so…" I couldn't tell in her tone if she was worried about that the Knights could be hurt or perhaps picking up on Yuri's hidden insinuation.

"Yuri Lowell!" GAH! MY EARS ARE BEING ASSAULTED AGAIN! Kairi cringed more than before since his voice sounded closer, louder, "Where are you hiding?" Yuri slightly smirked, "That must be Leblanc. I'd recognize those dulcet tones anywhere." Estelle tilted her head in confusion, "Do the two of you know each other?" So many questions for a day from basically almost everyone, but there's no time for that, Yuri knew we had wasted so much time, "We have a bit of a history. ...Come on, let's hurry." A few steps and 'Thud', Estellise fell down on a knee. "We should do something about your clothes. You'll stick out like a sore thumb" Yuri pointed out the obvious, it was pretty, but it just screamed 'I AM THE ROYAL PRINCESS BITCH!'…literally. "My room is just up ahead. I have a change of clothes there…" Ah the convenience of games, had to love it when the options would appear, now I could get out of this eye sore goth loli wannabe dress too. "Okay, that'll work." Though thinking about it, my nightie is non-stretchable satin, leg movement would be very restricted and the length might make me trip…..damn you goth loli dress….

Turning into the corridor we spotted a white door, ah and there was Estellise's room that you only get to see once in the PS3 game during a side quest. Estelle ran up to the door before letting us know, "This is my room. I'll go get changed, just give me a minute." Sheesh she sounded like we were about to barge in and look up all her feminine secrets or something. "Got it. Try to be quick about it." Yuri let her know, she had left her sword near the door as she entered her room. Looking around Yuri walked up to her door just as she opened the door to retrieve her sword. "Just in case." She told him, he turned around looking a bit amused, "…It's not like I was going to peek." With a soft smile Estelle's only response before closing the door was, "Flynn did tell me to be careful if I ever met you." Oh now my brain is going haywire, why would Flynn tell her to be careful around Yuri? When did Flynn ever suspect Yuri and Estelle would meet? (Seriously, sounds like a protective boyfriend telling his girl to watch out for his best friend, Caryn would skin me if she heard me say that) "Thanks, Flynn," Yuri said in an amused but disappointed tone.

"Oh, were you hoping to catch a peek or something?" I teased, Kairi still silently pouting on things about Estelle.

"No, I was just going to guard her door is all," He replied crossing his arms, a light pout in his tone possibly due to my implication.

"Oh really? Well imagine if you had, and you saw her grabbing for a zipper on the back of neck, and as she unzips, all you can see is a dark void shadow with an Estellise skin costume!" I played remembering seeing that mini comic in the 4-koma king's manga with Yuri peeping on Estelle her unzip her neck and seeing the void inside her body.

"…You have one of the creepiest minds I've ever seen," Yuri responded, his eyes shocked and wide.

"Hey! I might have a fun mind, but I'm nowhere near that Zagi guy's level of creepiness!" I protested.

"Yeah, he was a special kind of creepy, though, you haven't said anything for a while since before we fought that guy," He was directing his comment to Kairi who had been silent for a while, "You doing ok now?"

"…" Kairi was in a pouty mood, with all the Yustelle going on and all that was to come, it was only logical that she wouldn't be happy, she literally only got one moment with him while Estelle is practically gonna be there more with him during this journey that us two, and at the night before the finale, I couldn't even begin to imagine how she was feeling right now.….that's gotta hurt a lot….to love someone you know isn't going to feel the same way about you back…. "…. She just needs a nap, we've been in this castle for hours, even I'm getting tired…" I wonder if this is how I would feel with Kaine and Nier…if I had fallen into Nier….

He walked away from the door, next to us across the hallway once more, "Well you can't pass out just yet, we still haven't gotten out of this place," he was staring at us with eyes that I couldn't figure out, was he trying to read us, was he judging us still, ugh Yuri Lowell why do you have to be such a mystery at times, and then he'll spring something unexpected and it'll be hell! UGH!

"I know, I won't sleep just yet until I know we're all safe." I had to, getting caught now would be the worst thing that could happen.

After a while the door finally opened, "There, all finished." She twirled around as if showing off to us before, "What…? Do…do I look strange?" (….Did she just act innocent and oblivious to that just now after twirling like a show off, to fish compliments?) How do I put this…she's pink….so pink, Caryn's gonna hate her guts. "…." Kairi and I couldn't possibly say anything without offending her. Yuri turned away, his tone slightly betraying his own words "…It's nothing, I was just thinking this doesn't suit you either." (Just what were you expecting her to wear?) "Really?" Estelle sounded so disappointed, like she had wanted to wear something he'd like. Kairi could only sigh lightly, I softly let go of her when she nudged me a little to let me know she could walk again, _'Yeah, I know, let's just get out of here, finish this story as fast as we can, and then we can go home...hopefully.'_ She could only give me a sad look before we continued with the scene before us of Estelle waltzing over to Yuri with a handshake.

"What's this?" Yuri asked (It's called a handshake Mr. Lowell, certainly you'll experience one in a job interview and day to day life especially in business). "A handshake. It means, "nice to meet you." Estelle explained, wow they literally had to explain that. Yuri quickly shook her hand a large smile covering her face before stating to Estelle, "All right. Let's get going Estellise." Huh? "Thanks!" Estelle said happily, the both of them running off. Getting farther, farther, farther, what the hell?

"Ahem!" I cleared my throat loudly, they both stopped and turned towards us completely surprised, I was getting irritated, I just wanted to shout and scream 'GET A ROOM YOU TWO!' Estelle had been rude since moment one, and to top it off she ignores us and treats us like we aren't there, completely focusing on Yuri. So we don't know Flynn in person, so we're not on his friend list, she saved my ass once with Zagi but that does not mean treat me like a spec of dirt floating in the room, and now even Yuri seems to have forgotten about us, what happened to that moment we had a little while ago while she was changing. "Forgetting somebody or someone…" I was ticked, I was good at holding back expressions and emotions a majority of the time, but my voice was cracking with it, I'm sure my expression was blank, but my eyes were possibly fire.

Kairi placed her hand on my shoulder and shook her head, how the hell can she be so damn calm with this? How can she be taking this? Hell, how can she sit there and watch all this and still love the guy?! "Oh, I'm so sorry!" Estelle ran up to the both of us and extended her hand out for a shake, taking my sudden anger as a sign that I wanted a handshake, "Here!" Kairi shook her hand and I could only be dumbfounded, I know Estelle has a kind nature, but still…right now….I am not in the mood. Looking at her hand extended to me next I couldn't bring myself to do it, right now it was not 'nice to meet her'. "Um," Estelle looked unsure of what to do, I let out a large sigh, "Let's just go." I crossed my arms and walked ahead passed Yuri, not even bothering to look at him.

* * *

-*- Liana's Anger Issues #1 -*-

Estellise: Um, Liana, I was wondering…you seemed upset about not getting a handshake, why don't you want one now?

Liana: Hmph. Cause I don't want it. *turns away from Estellise*

Estellise: …*sad face*

Yuri: Sheesh, what's got you so bent out of shape now?

Liana: Hmph! Can it Mr. Lowell! *turns away from Yuri*

Yuri: *looks shocked* Never called me by my last name before. Maybe she really does need that nap…

* * *

I walked on ahead, I knew where the statue was and knew the others would catch up if I got too far ahead. "Hey! Liana! Slow down, get back here!" Yuri called out running up beside me, "What's gotten into you?" I merely glared at him from the side, my voice brimming with a bit of anger, "Lowell. Not. NOW." He gave me a 'what the hell did I do' look before stopping and pulling out his sword, dammit another Knight. I. AM. SO. NOT. HAPPY. RIGHT. NOW. JUST. FUCK. OFF! As he ran forward sword drawn up to slash down, adrenaline and red blurred my vision as I ran up to him, grabbed his descending arm with my left hand, and punched him as hard as I could in the gut with my right. For a moment I thought I heard a few snaps, but I ignored it. He dropped down unconscious, yellow liquid pooling around his legs, seems I hit him hard enough to make him piss himself. I didn't have time to feel satisfied that I took on a Knight barehanded, alone, and won this time with 1 hit. I huffed and walked on, the others giving me room to walk alone to vent my anger, except Kairi.

' _Liana…'_

' _WHAT?!'_

' _Look….I know you're angry…but anger isn't going to help us go home…'_

' _And how do we get home?! Them?! Is it even guaranteed that they can help us get home? You saw what happened. A little smile and it's all it takes for him to get back to the plot and forget we exist too!'_

' _Liana, you know Yuri wouldn't forget about us…if he had, he wouldn't have taken us along, he'd have ditched us rather than telling us to stay out of fights and bringing us this far…he's….he's not like that…'_

'… _.I know….DAMMIT I KNOW! But….how….how do you deal with that?! I get sick watching it….I hate being treated like….like….like I'm a flea….so I can't fight…big surprise there….I know we don't belong here, both in this story and world….I know we're not important to this plot…I know she needs to play her roles as the heroine….but….BUT WHY DO WE HAVE TO SIT AND TAKE IT LIKE A PAIR OF OBEDIENT DOGS?! WHY DO I HAVE BE FRIENDS WITH HER WHEN SHE'S BEEN NOTHING BUT A BITCH TO ME AND YOU SO FAR?! I'm not gonna do it now! I know she's nicer than most other people, but I'm LOSING IT HERE! AND THEN THINKING ON FURTHER AHEAD…GAH! I HATE HER AND LOVE HER AS A CHARACTER BUT RIGHT NOW I CAN'T STOP LEANING TOWARDS THE HATE!'_

I felt a pair of small arms around me hugging me tightly, her smile so warm and soft just like her hugs, _'You don't have to cry you know…its ok.'_ I was crying? Finally feeling a drop of liquid leave my chin it hit me, I was crying…FUCK….

' _It's all your fault…I'm supposed to be the older one here…..and I….dammit….I'm being reduced to a kid right now…I wanna go home…'_ I hugged back, trying to hide my face from the two other party members watching, sobbing into Kairi's shoulder, I felt like I had my period, but it's nowhere near that time yet…

' _I know, I'm sorry…I can't help it, I'm sorry….'_ …dammit….GOD DAMMIT ALL…

"She's really gonna need a nap after we get out of here," Yuri said aloud to no one in particular, Estelle looking as confused as ever at Yuri's comment.

* * *

-*- On the Run -*-

Estellise: Yuri, you were a knight once, right?

Yuri: Didn't you already say you heard about me from Flynn?

Estellise: …Well, it's just…you don't seem to know your way around the castle well…*Gasp* …Are you an impostor?!

Liana: *mutters* Does every knight have to know their way around the castle? I bet not many Knights get to be in the castle except for few times if they're lucky.

Yuri: That's some imagination you've got. Why would I want to impersonate a regular guy from the Lower Quarter?

Estellise: I-I guess you're right. *embarrassed look*

Liana: _'Ladies and Gentleman I present to you one of your future potential rulers….I can't see it happening….Ioder is probably gonna be the next Emperor, he at least tries to do shit for his country.'_

Yuri: Come on, let's go before we're caught by the castle guards.

* * *

-*- Extra Baggage -*-

Yuri: I just wanted to check on the Lower Quarter and come back. I didn't expect the extra baggage.

Kairi: …

Liana: Jiiiiiiiiiiiii *stares dead pan*

Yuri: !

Estellise: Baggage? I could take it to the castle's lost and found for you.

Yuri: You're one of the people I couldn't really ask to take care of it.

Estellise: Huh?

Liana: Jiiiiiiiiiiiii *stares harder*

Yuri: ! …Nevermind. I'm good.

Estellise: Okay. Let me know if you change your mind. *walks off*

Yuri: Guess she's the textbook "little, naive noble". But why were those Knights chasing her…?

Liana: *mutters* Appearances and preconceptions can be deceiving…it's not like it ever got fully explained, at least to me…

Yuri: Huh?

* * *

-*- The Intruder Zagi -*-

Estellise: Are there many people outside the castle like that man Zagi we met earlier?

Yuri: Nah, he's one of a kind. It's pretty hard to find anyone that nuts.

Estellise: I see. Well that's a relief. I don't know what I'd do if everyone behaved like that…

Yuri: Yeah, life would be pretty rough if the world were full of guys like him.

Liana: _'…Back on Earth we have lots of Zagi's…'_

* * *

After a while you came across the room with the statue of the goddess in the center, while Yuri and Estelle went to inspect it, I decided to raid the chests of their apple gel and orange gel. "…! It really worked!" And that was our cue to begin leaving, "What do we have here? Looks like the old man was right…" Yuri was pretty shocked, after all the old man had left with Alexei, though he'd forget about that until…much later. "Do you think this will lead outside?" Kairi and I ran over getting set to take a turn down the ladder. "I can't guarantee it." Yuri assured Estelle, "Well I'm going down. How about you?" he asked Estelle who looked a bit frightened, I wasn't going to lie, even I was frightened, it was a dark ways down…."… I'm coming too." She finally decided. "That's pretty brave of you." Yuri commented, I rolled my eyes, ugh, seriously, just fuck already if you're that thirsty. I saw Kairi on the ladder already, she took one look at the scene above before sliding down rather than climbing down, definitely not wanting to see the oncoming Yustelle scene.

I too got on the bars and began chanting to myself that nothing would happen, that Kairi was down there, I wasn't alone, and that there was lights in the sewer in the game, taking deep breaths, "Who was that guy, anyway? There was something shady about him." (That Yuri Lowell, was the greatness known as the OLD MAN! Deal with it.) As Yuri began to head around I heard a clap of hands and knew Estelle was going to heal the cut on his hand, "What is it? Did you change your mind?" He sounded so damn content, "No, your hand—it's injured. Let me take a look at it." A chiming ring and Estelle's grunt of protest from Yuri grabbing her hand to look at her blastia and I rolled my eyes once more, I was going to barf from the scene faster than the sewer's smell could. I had enough for one day, anger still in my tone.

"Ok you two love birds, if you want a room together that badly, we'll just leave without you then!" I probably meant that big time, I didn't want to stick with them if all I was gonna be was angry every second of every day even if it meant living in an alley way with no food or money. I climbed down quickly hearing Estelle frantically spouting about how it wasn't like that and Yuri shouting for us to hold on and wait for them, that it was dangerous. It's just Ratwigles, they only have like 400 HP, I don't give a fuck!

Sad to say, we didn't wait, they sure were taking their sweet time discussing why Yuri suddenly grabbed her hand. I fought some ratwigles that were now surrounding Kairi and told her our best bet was to keep going towards the exit since in the game they respawn after some time passes. I raided each chest as we went; these guys were a lot easier to deal with, they were so round and fat, fun to hit too, and easier to dodge, I either moved left or to the right, or played jump rope with their tails. I played soccer with them all the way until we hit the area of the ladder out of here, Kairi would play golf with her staff using ratwigles as golf balls, those crates in the way were too heavy to move even with my anger fueled strength, now we had to wait for Yuri to open the damn hatch up top to let us out. We were gonna miss out on perhaps one skit and tutorial, but I didn't care, nothing entirely new.

After they reached us, Yuri gave us a stern talking about how dangerous going alone was, I drowned him out, he was being too much a big brother right now, and I didn't want that now. Yuri began moving the crates out of the way as Estellise decided to talk to Kairi. Just what could that pink wall flower have to discuss with Kairi? Humph. Not like I care. This ordeal couldn't end fast enough for me.

* * *

-*- Be Thankful to Strangers -*-

Estellise: I need to thank whoever told you about this underground passage.

Yuri: Why would you need to be thankful for something like that?

Estellise: I'm trying to get out of the castle, just like you.

Yuri: That's all well and good…but there's no need to be all thankful because of it.

Estellise: Oh no. We must show courtesy to those who show us kindness.

Yuri: Sort of weird to be polite to somebody you've never met, don't you think?

Estellise: Manners are never so important as when dealing with those whom we have yet to be acquainted.

Yuri: You really think so, huh?

Estellise: I know so.

Liana: ….

* * *

-*- Poor Manners -*-

Estellise: Um…Kairi, can I ask you a question?

Kairi: Huh? What's the matter Estellise?

Estellise: It's just… I don't think Liana likes me all that much….so…

Yuri: Come to think of it, she's been bent out of shape since Estellise here changed clothes.

Estellise: Y-Yes. So I was wondering…do you know perhaps, why? Is my attire offensive?

Kairi: …..Do you want the honest truth? *Looks worried*

Estellise: Yes!

Kairi: The really hurtful, honest truth...

Estellise: Uh…Yes! I want to know, please. I'd really rather we not all fight…so I have to know.

Kairi: … Ok then. *straight face* You didn't give us a good first impression, that was to be expected with the circumstances, but when you found out that Yuri was Flynn's friend your focus was all on Yuri, you ignored and blatantly denied our existence most times all because it seemed we weren't on Flynn's friend list. Liana hates being treated like she isn't there when she is, she's had to deal with that from a very young age a lot, and as you kept ignoring us it kinda built up…and then the nail in the coffin had to be when you and Yuri began leaving without us. Liana probably felt like you were manipulating Yuri to help you out and to ditch us, *frowns* and that you actually began leaving without us didn't help either Yuri.

Estellise: I wasn't trying to manipulate Yuri. That was never my intention.

Yuri: ! Geez, I'm sorry, I got caught in the moment of wanting to leave, I wouldn't have left out of the castle without either of you once I realized you weren't there. Honest.

Kairi: …Yes…but she doesn't know that…she has….a hard time with trusting…*mutters* and so do I…but…

Estellise: *panicking* Oh…I am so sorry, I never meant to make either of you feel that way, or ignore you. I just went on about proper manners a moment ago, and it seems I've displayed such poor manners to you both. *bows* I am so sorry.

Kairi: It's okay. I'm used to it by now, but Liana's kinda been learning on that she doesn't wanna just sit down and take it anymore, so she's more temperamental.

Estellise: You shouldn't be used to it! I'm going to go apologize to Liana right now!

Kairi: Not a good idea Estellise, right now she's so steamed she won't really listen, she needs to calm down a bit more. If you tried right now she'd probably just roll her eyes, say 'whatever', and dismiss your apology.

Estellise: But…

Yuri: Just listen to her advice, it's best to give Liana some time.

Estellise: Oh…Okay. *sad*

Kairi: *sighs and looks at the ground muttering* It's also my fault she's angry too….

Yuri: ?

* * *

"All right, it's opened!" Yuri shouted down to us from above and he climbed out the sewers, the rest of us following suit after him. I had never been happier to see the sun in my life, I was out of that hellish castle and we'd never return…until MUCH later…I feel like that castle may be cursed, jinxed, or evil…yeah I'll go with evil.

* * *

Surprise ya? Well it shouldn't, why does everyone assume you need to love Estelle from the get go? Not me. I'm one of those people that takes time to build trust with, but I will joke and play with you if you'll play with me. Don't want nothing to do with me? Then I want nothing to do with you, it's simple. Can't guarantee Estelle and I will be BFFS before the end of the game, not everyone likes her ya know, shocker.

Caryn: Well I don't like her, mainly cause of her attitude and her pinkness.

Also not everyone has to know how to fight, although you do if you want to live….although I SUCK at writing combat situations….meh oh well XD And yeah Mabinogi is like a part of this, but it's not a crossover since there will be no NPCS coming to visit, although, Kairi's abilities to fight and everything comes from her Mabinogi ranks and skills.

Play Mabinogi? ME too! (NO not Mabinogi Heroes AKA VINDICTUS!) I'm on the Alexina server XD just add kairiujmk.

Next time: We leave Zaphias! ...Though we may or may not make it to Deidon Hold…just saying.


	6. 5: On the road to Deidon Hold

First and foremost, if anyone is confused about the 1k, 2k, any number k in general, it's a way to shorten down thousands, we use it in Mabinogi a lot to sell and buy things. It's normally used as an abbreviation for kilos when like running in a marathon or something, but we in the gaming community use it to cut our prices to fit in the request window. So if you hear me say like, "We need 5k gald", that means we need 5,000 gald, see, it cuts up the number by 3 digits and 1 comma XD that's space!

Also: Parenthesis = my thoughts, italics = communication between Kairi and Me, -*- = skits, and *'s = actions.

*holds up poster board* Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Vesperia, Justin, Caryn, or Vesperia's storyline. I do own my work in this fiction, Kairi, and myself of course, that is all.

* * *

Climbing up the ladder and out I was blinded by a bright light. (Ah sunlight, my mortal enemy and best friend~). Helping Kairi out I heard Yuri sigh, "It's already morning. I wasted an entire night. Looks like it led to the royal quarter." Looking around I found myself speechless, seriously, the game did NOTHING, to give this place justice! This…This was some rich af shit here! "Everything looks so different from the windows of the castle."

And that was Estellise, completely in awe at everything around her. To me this was the part where everyone was like 'aww she's so cute', but I slightly found it irritating after a few playthroughs that despite being a princess she didn't once demand to be let outside, NOT ONCE, even Ioder despite being kidnapped, got to travel around, of course he had guards with him but that's like a norm for royalty. I realize the council probably wanted to keep her isolated so that they could keep control over her, but she's the DAMN PRINCESS, I would've been like, 'Screw you and your rules, if I wanna go to Halure, I'm going to Halure, and you have NO POWER to tell me I can't, now fetch me my guards and royal carriage.' Seriously, she just obeyed silently despite having a bit more power than most, when I was younger and when I broke one time so did I, but as I grew up I realized I had to make my own decisions, I was tired of people trying to make me do things or telling me what to do, and I was younger than 18. Her indecisiveness and wish washy nature was one of the things that urked me the most about her.

"Ah, come on. You sound like this is your first time out of the castle." Yuri was still looking around, trying to adjust to the brightness. See even he agrees; she's 18 dammit, she should have gone out at least ONCE!

"…Uh, Well I…" That worried tone, seriously she's probably just now thinking to herself why she hasn't…

"I guess a lady who lives in a castle can't just take a walk outside whenever she wants." He sounded just normal, but somehow the cogs in my head were turning as I had a burning need to just decipher any hidden message in that. Sometimes I just like to overthink…

"Y-Yes, you're right." She sounded so embarrassed and slightly ashamed, sheesh, seriously, what was wrong with just ASKING TO GO OUT ONCE?!

Yuri raised his hand for high five, "Well, hey. At least we made it out of the castle." She walked over, she seemed like she knew what that signal meant, but then, finger to palm! (THE SIGN OF VICTORY!) Yuri, Kairi, and I stared at her awkwardly in silence for a while, she began to pick up on our dumb expressions as Yuri could only laugh a tiny bit awkwardly, "Hah hah hah…" He looked like he wanted to laugh his butt off but was holding it back painfully so.

"Um. Was that not right?" (Ah Estellise, let's show you how to do it.) I grabbed Yuri's wrist much to his surprised and gave him a high five, he kept his hand up out of sheer surprise, Kairi quickly slapping her hand against his in a high five not wanting to be left out, turning away with pink cheeks at her abrupt action. "Oh, that's how you do it…"

"So Estellise, what are you gonna do now that you're out?" Yuri asked, curious on what this little naïve noble who had never been out of the castle planned on doing.

"I'm going to find Flynn." She answered back with complete determination.

"Do you know where he went?" Yuri asked, y'know, it woulda been a face palm moment if she didn't know where he went and she was just like, 'I don't know where he went, but I'll just go here and there until I find him with no heading and impose on everyone around me.'

"The other day, he said he was going off on a knight's pilgrimage." I wish I could travel the world just by telling people, 'Hey guys, I'mma go on a pilgrimage, see you in Hawaii~…' (Yup still a bit sour about that canceled vacation…)

Right then I almost lost my shit. I always thought of Yuri's amused look in the game to be hilarious, but this was about gut bursting! My cheeks were puffed up trying to keep from laughing at his face, one eye normally opened while the other seemed to be more down, both eyes looking almost cross eyed, with his eyebrows down low, but almost what I would draw for worried expressions. "Ohh, that thing. Going around the cities of the empire piling up good deeds?" (GODDAMMIT LOWELL STOP TRYING TO MAKE ME LAUGH!)

"Yes. That's why I'm going to the City of Blossoms, Halure. Halure is the first place the knights traditionally visit on a pilgrimage." That got me thinking…if this place was this nice, just how beautiful was Halure going to be once the tree was revived? Ah my romantic side was gushing with the thoughts of a picnic with Nier~ Kairi seemed to be thinking the same thing about Yuri as I saw her hands on her cheeks that were now rose red shaking her head slightly side to side with her eyes closed, humming lightly to herself.

"So you'll need to go outside the barrier." Yuri was in thought. OH SHIT! I just remembered! He was gonna dump us off at the lower quarter, he had said he would make arrangements for us there for when he got out of prison to try to help us, but that was for if he went back…still….there's NO GUARANTEE he won't just ditch us there! What to do?!

"Have you ever been beyond the barrier?" He did when he went to Shizontania….and when he was a kid once.

"Little while back. I'd like to go but I can't just leave the lower quarter like it is. Come on. I'll show you the way out of town. It's on the way to the lower quarter. Kairi. Liana. Come on." (I need to think of something to get him to keep us from sticking us in the Inn in the lower quarter). "Thank you!" Estellise ran after the both of us as we followed behind Yuri.

Crossing the fountain in what I called the 'Plaza' we heard the all too familiar voices shouting out to us. "You there, fugitives! Halt, I say!" Adecor aka Tweedle A shouted. Fugitives? "The jig is up! We know you maidens are conspiring along with Yuri Lowell!" That was Boccos aka Tweedle B. Oh so now we're accomplices rather than hostages now, huh?

Yuri's eyebrow gave a twitch, my brain now processing what he must be thinking. Now there's no way he can just leave us in the lower quarter, we'll be taken into the prison for questioning, and he can't hide us in the lower quarter because it wasn't only a danger for us to be caught, but the people of the lower quarter would get involved possibly trying to help us or just for helping us in general. Thank you SO MUCH TWEEDLES! Although Kairi and I will have to try to clear our names eventually…

"Fooools! Enough grandstanding, arrest them!" Ah, who knew that the non-echoing of the outdoors could be so relieving to the eardrums? Estellise panicked a bit, uncertain of whether we should be running or not when the Tweedles began to charge, "W-What should we do?"

"First you pick up one of these…," oh great, we were getting knight escaping lessons from Yuri Lowell, huzzah, quickly take notes, "Then go like this!" He tossed that rock so far and fast I almost didn't see it until it collided into Tweedle A's head, "Ow!" In almost a few seconds after Tweedle A fell, Tweedle B soon followed "Oof!" Just how strong was Yuri? Or a better question….how weak are these two? I had recalled Cumore still standing after being hit by one of Yuri Lowell's famous rock throwing sessions.

Yuri turned to us all, "Let's get to the lower quarter" and with that we were running to the lower quarter as fast as we could. No seriously, it's downhill, you couldn't slow down if you wanted once you hit speed. I almost ran into the fountain from not being able to stop myself once we reached the level bottom. "Yuri! Where've you been?" and there was old man Hanks, god I loved him to bits!

Yuri played around, his tone just oozing sarcasm, I just loved this line "I got an invitation to the castle and had the most marvelous time there." I had to fight off the giggles, while Kairi couldn't help but let it slip out. "Of all the…" Hanks took notice of Kairi's laughter and finally realized he had 3 new guests, "And who're these young ladies?" I felt myself blush when he said young ladies, honestly I never could see it on my person so I never could take compliments like that, and I've even had people mistaken me for my dad's wife….Ew…

On cue Estellise ran up to him bowing, "Pleased to meet you. I'm Estellise." God she sounded like a bride-to-be meeting her father-in-law for the first time. "The pleasures all mine, Miss" Hanks responded with a bow.

"My name's Liana, and this is-" I got cut off with Kairi walking up to Hanks, "My name's Kairi, it nice to meet you sir." her cheeks were pink and she had her hands behind her back fiddling with her fingers, but she was smiling sincerely and honestly. It hit me, she probably wanted to leave a good impression on Hanks since she liked Yuri, but not only that, Kairi thought dearly of Hanks too, who didn't like this guy?! Though I couldn't help but smile, she hadn't given up entirely, she was going to try to win Yuri by being a rival with Estelle, this outta be fun.

"Nice to meet the both of you as well Madams," he smiled, and I felt myself blush again, seriously I couldn't take compliments like that and not be embarrassed. With a bow to us both as we bowed back he walked over to Yuri, "Er, more importantly, about those Imperial Knights. They've been so busy looking for you, they haven't paid any attention to our fiasco down here. So you've really managed to tick them off, huh?" God I loved this guy! Can he just officially be my grandfather now?

"It looks that way. Has Repede come back yet?" Oh I wanted to see that fur ball so badly, but odds are he ain't gonna like me for the entire trip, or it'll take a while to be buddies with him. "Sure did, and he was carrying some bag." The bag with the monies. "What happened to it?" Yuri was sounding dead serious, relax, Repede's not gonna go spend it on pipe tobacco or weed….or maybe he is hehe. "It should be up in your room." Oh right, Yuri's got an apple gel in his room, guess we can't go get it…curse my need to want to pick up EVERY SINGLE ITEM!

"Go pick it up later. Give it a shake. It has a nice jingle to it." For a moment there I thought he said jiggle, and his darn sexy Troy Baker voice wasn't helping my brain either, "Mordio liked it too." OK, dirt brain activated. "You met Mr. Mordio?" Nah he met a Dedecchi, he will meet a Rita Mordio eventually though. "Yeah, but the rat left town. Apparently he's someone important from a city called Aspio." Estellise and Kairi were looking at the fountain and at the run down houses. The game made them look a lot better in shape than what they were. "…'Left town?' Then that means…we've been hoodwinked." Ah, I remember Hanks gave up his wife's keepsake for this…I was going to give Dedecchi a slug before Rita could fireball him if he shows up like in the PS3 version.

"Afraid so. His house was empty, and I doubt he's even a real noble." Yuri looked in thought for a moment, maybe wondering why a so called famed mage would steal a blastia from the lower quarter…I couldn't say. "…I see." OMG he's like my Grandpa who passed away years ago, I love the bones of him, can I just hug this poor old man already?!

"Looks like the aque blastia's finally stopped leaking water." I thought water was supposed to be clear, it was a nasty shade of green, I hope they can filter and drink it. I felt sick looking at it, and these people had to drink it? Now I probably know how other countries who have water issues feel. "Well, without a core it won't budge." Well at least the good news was no one was going to drown at the least. "Is there enough water for the time being?" Yuri was so worried though he wouldn't show it. "Yeah, but it won't last long. After that, we'll just get it from the river. Get the runs, though." Come to think of it….with the river like right there in the lower quarter, just why did kid Yuri, kid Flynn, and the other kids go gather water from outside the barrier that one time? I really need a translated version to the 6 chapters of the Danzaisha no Keifu manga and the light novels!

"And the knights aren't going to help. Guess I'll go get it back from the thief myself." Homeboy here just wants to do the plumbing, plumbing which will eventually lead to saving the world….OMG He could be Mario for Halloween now! Saving the Mushroom Kingdom and Zaphias, one Bowser at a time. "What? You aren't thinking of following Mordio beyond the barrier, are ya?" He sounded a bit concerned, of course he is, this is like his son here, he technically raised Yuri in an orphanage he and his late wife ran, or still run, does he still run it?

"Don't worry. I'll be back before you know it." Hanks gave Yuri a smile, his tone playful, ah how I was gonna miss this old guy for a while, "Humph. Who's worried? It's a good opportunity for ya. No need for ya to hurry back here." Spoken like a true parent, I was feeling warm inside…and a little home sick, my father…just how was he faring now that I was gone…he's probably called the cops by now, witnesses point and accusing Justin of kidnapping me since he was the only one coming over to the house that day. "Huh? What do you mean by that?" Yuri looked confused and a little shocked that Hanks was just about telling him to leave the nest.

Crossing his arms and closing his eyes, Hanks tried to make himself clearer, "What I mean is, we can get along just fine without you." Kinda harsh, but it gets the point across, he smiled at Yuri once more, "Even Flynn used to say, 'I wonder how long Yuri plans on living this life.'" He got you there Yuri. "Flynn needs to learn to mind his own business." Yuri could only sigh in defeat. "Well, you've got three lovely young ladies with ya at least, here's hoping at least one of them can get you to settle down and behave." If I had water in my mouth I would've spat it out in classic style, but I settled for choking on thin air. If he thought 3 girls was a harem for Yuri, just wait until Judith pops in and Rita, he'll be like '5 women, damn Yuri.' Shouldn't have imagined that, I made it worse. My coughing fit racked my body pretty bad, damn I hadn't expected that, that threw me for a loop. I could hear Yuri tell Hanks "See what you did…", and to my surprise it was Estellise who was patting my back to try to stop my coughing, asking if I was ok. Her kind and selfless nature was one thing I liked about her, but there's kinda gotta be a line drawn somewhere, and right now I was still sour at her a bit.

"Yuri Looowell! You've given my two lackeys a headache. Now you and those two women be good boys and girls and turn yourself iiin!" Leblanc shouted as he made it to the bottom of the hill from the plaza to the lower quarter. "But we're not good boys and girls….we're bad boys and girls" I shouted back while giggling at that, I'm sorry but…why ask Yuri to be a good boy and turn himself in when he's not, more so us. Yuri could only smirk at my comment before telling us, "Well, that's our cue. Looks like I won't be coming back here for a while."

Hanks could only smile, "Never a dull moment with Yuri around." No kidding: assassin's, entelexeia, Duke, Raven, the Red Eyes, Zagi, etc. Yuri is a barrel of fun! A little girl who I recognized from the game as the little girl from the inside of the inn who gets jealous once all the girls are in the party if you talk to her she's like, 'I'm your number one still right Yuri' or 'I thought I was your number one girl Yuri', something like that hahaha. "After this, I'll be even with you for getting that money back." Estellise seemed confused, looking around at the people who were now, acting very oddly, one guy was even jabbing the air, they were just waiting on Hank's cue for them to charge. Screw Alexei, Hanks needs to be the supreme ruler and bring forth together the broken nation, I found that thought amusing and fun. Hanks for President!

Yuri looked very smug realizing what was going on, "Just make sure you don't kick the bucket blowing it all on some crazy party." Oh wouldn't it have been funny if Yuri had left and you could see fireworks popping from the lower quarter as they break out the banners, confetti, and cake saying 'Hurray Yuri's gone!' "Heh, same to you. See that you don't go dying in any ditches." And with that Yuri bolted off leaving us three there, dang he could run. "Wait for us!" Estellise shouted, "It was nice to meet you, sir." She said as she bowed to Hanks, Kairi and I giving a nod to him as we chased after Yuri. Hearing Hanks's final words, "He'll probably be quite a pain in the neck. You three make sure to take care of yourselves, now." "We will. Thank you!" and soon we caught up to Yuri who had stopped to wait for us a bit of the way down the path. And with just one wave of his hand, the lower quarter charged!

"When are you going to fix the fountain, Sir Knight?" "Hey cool, a knight." "Hooray! Hooray!" "Won't you help this old man find his dentures?" I had to laugh at that last one, that old man's voice was hilarious.

"Foools! You're in my way! Do not interfere in the affairs of the empire!" I thought I heard something like a thud, not sure if Leblanc had shoved someone or hit them….he better not have hit them or I'll give him a right hook whenever we get the chance to sit with him in Heliord. We turned to run and I was faced with one of the most terrifying things I had ever seen so far….a stampede of people rushing right at us…it was Black Friday when I use to work at Walmart all over again…and then we were swallowed up by the pack.

"GAH! HEY DON'T GRAB THAT! Who spanked me?! WAH HEY THAT CAN RIP YOU KNOW!" I was struggling in the crowd that was carrying us off to the exit. "Don't you make any of them cry!" I hear a woman say, she was directing that to Yuri. Everything else got cut off with Kairi's sudden shouting, "NO! DON'T TOUCH THAT! NOT THERE! KYAAA! WHO KEEPS GRABBING MY BREASTS?! AHHH! STOP TOUCHING ME THERE! STOP! WAUGGHHH LEAVE MY BUTT ALONE! HYAAA DON'T PUT YOUR HANDS IN THERE!" Sounded more like she was being molested than carried off…."HEY BACK OFF ON KAIRI YOU HEAR ME OR I'LL CASTRATE YOU IN THE DEAD OF THE NI-" I had something shoved in my face hard before I was dumped out the crowd. "….Ow" I rubbed my face looking down at something fluffy in my hands, turned it over and….it was the Champion Sheep Knuckles I had on Mabinogi….SO CUTE….SO DEADLY…I liked it, it was worth the spanking! Then Kairi was dumped out of the crowd, completely flushed and trembling from the trauma of being groped all over, Estellise and Yuri soon after with items in their hands.

Estellise hunched over trying to catch her breath, "Wow, Yuri. They're all going to miss you so much." Yuri only pouted, "Honestly, they're probably thrilled to finally get rid of me." He stopped and stuck his hands inside his shirt and pulled out a bag, "Hey, hold it…! Who put money in here?! I can't take this." I was surprised he didn't notice it was in his shirt sooner. He started running back until, "Haaalt! Get out of my way!" "Huh…I guess I'll have to keep it for now."

We ran with Leblanc slowly catching up until Repede jumped out of nowhere tripping him up, "What?" He looked utterly surprised, I mean really, that's Yuri's partner in crime, and you don't expect him to mess with you or something? "Nice one, Repede" Yuri praised him. "A dog?" Estellise asked (No duh it's a dog, would you prefer a magical pony instead?)

"Well for now its north to Deidon Hold." Estellise was so focused on Repede that she didn't seem to hear, "What? Oh, right!" And now finally I wasn't going to have to call her by that ridiculous name of hers, "I'm not sure how long we'll all be together, but here's to the road ahead, Liana, Kairi, and Estelle." Estelle has been christened, yay, no more Estellise, it may sound like a pretty name but it's just so….pompous. Not that I was one to talk, but I can accept that I am human, and being human means embracing those faults and not denying I have them.

"Yes, I…? Huh?" She looked so confused before she began chanting to herself, her hands on her chest, good lord she looked like a girl who just got called a new pet name by her boyfriend, be grateful he ain't calling ya cinnamon apple, "…Es…telle….? Estelle….Estelle." This is take her a bit of getting used to. After realizing she couldn't dawdle on her new name she returned to normal, "To the road ahead, Kairi, Liana, and Yuri!" Part of me was hoping she'd do what was in the 4-Koma Kings comics and call Repede a dogwigle.

"Well, so long for now" Yuri said turning back to the crowd. "We hope to be back soon." Estelle shouted. "Thank you all so very much!" Kairi shouted after getting over her flusteredness. "We'll be touring in New York next!" That earned me a look from everyone as I turned around to leave first. The others soon catching on and following, hurray we're finally out of there and on the world map~

* * *

-*- Thanks to the Lower Quarter -*-

Estelle: A map, equipment, and even money. Your friends are so generous, Yuri!

Yuri: *sigh* They can't afford this. They can barely get by as it is.

Estelle: Well, I'm sure they're worried about you, and want you to have a safe journey.

Yuri: *pouts* It's more likely they're just glad to be rid of a trouble-making kid.

Estelle: *pouts* That's not true!

Kairi: They didn't seem like the type who'd do that. They seemed sincere enough.

Liana: Yeah, tell you what. Whenever we go back, if Hanks said they didn't have a party you owe us some cake and them an apology for thinking that!

Yuri: ! Why does it have to be a cake?! Well either way, guess I can't come back empty-handed, now that they've given us all this stuff. Now I gotta bring back the aque blastia. No matter what.

* * *

-*- Christening Estelle -*-

Estelle: …Estelle…Estelle…

Liana: What the heck's going on?

Yuri: She's been mumbling to herself for a while now…

Repede: *whine*

Yuri: Hey, you coming? We don't have all day here.

Estelle: Estelle…Estelle…

Liana:…..

Yuri: Looks like she's in her own little world…Hey! Estelle!

Estelle: Oh, right! Sorry, I'm coming!

Yuri: Do they not have nicknames where she's from?

Liana: She's a girl who lives in a castle, I doubt they'd have anything as informal as nicknames there.

Yuri: You have a point.

* * *

-*- Victim of Molestation -*-

Yuri: Hey Kairi!

Kairi: Huh?

Yuri: You ok there? You were screaming your head off back at the lower quarter and it took you a while to snap out of it.

Kairi: *Face red* Huh?! Oh! No I'm just fine! Really! Honest!

Yuri: Are you sure?

Kairi: *face steaming* YES! NOTHING HAPPENED! HONEST! NOTHING! NO HANDS ON MY BUM, BOOBS, OR DOWN THERE! I'M FINE! JUST FINE!

Yuri: ! Down there?!

Liana: Hey Kairi. What's that in your dress?

Kairi: Huh?

Liana: There? It looks like something sticking out of your boobs from your dress.

Kairi: ! Eh? *checks and pulls out a life bottle, bread, and some eggs* So that's why they kept sticking their hands in my dress!

Yuri: *sigh* Guys, that's not cool.

Acquired Life Bottle x1, Bread x1, Eggs x2

* * *

-*- Brand New Knuckles -*-

Liana: *humming while trying on the Champion Sheep Knuckles*

Estelle:…..*tries to bring up conversation* Oh, those are so cute! Are they dolls or puppets?

Yuri: Huh? How'd you get those?

Liana: Someone just shoved them in my face and they're not puppets or dolls…

Estelle: Huh? What are they then?

Liana: Hyah! *punches and breaks small tree on the path* Oh these Knuckles pack punch~ Not the best available though. But it's a big boost!

Yuri: ! Wait…..Those are Knuckles…..?

Estelle: ! …They're so cute though…

* * *

We stopped along a path that looked like it had a small fence built, I knew where we were now. "We've come a long way from the capital." Yuri said, I was so beyond tired, I lost track of how many hours it had been since we arrived on Terca Lumireis, but I was due for some sleep; I was just about getting vertigo. "Yes…I wonder if we're safe now." Estelle looked a bit tired as well, but there seemed to be one problem, if we slept now we won't sleep at night. "Hard to say. Those guys are a sticky lot." Darn you Lowell and your, I'll never let you see me weakened poker face.

"Woof!" Repede barked, letting us know we had company.

"Huh…?" Yuri turned to see who it was, a bit ahead was a girl and guy along with a wagon being pulled by what appeared to be what I'd consider a Vesperian horse…just what do they call those things?

"…Hmpf…" the guy I knew called Rich said, still not as social or good with social skills as ever I see.

"Greetings." The girl I knew to be called Karen called out, probably happy to be getting some customers right now. We headed on over, Estelle bowing as usual, "Hello!" …No need to shout, we're right in front of them…

"Welcome, good travelers!" Karen greeted us, "Hello," Both me and Kairi hilariously said in unison. "…Is this a shop?" Estelle asked, even I knew better…If It were a shop I'd expect wares to be showing on display, hanging off the wagon, a tiny kiosk near the wagon open…this was a barren wagon/coach.

"…It's the King of Adventure Travelers' Lodge…" (Oooo nice name, if it existed on Earth I'd book a room there). "Oh, big brother, do try to be a bit more friendly! 3"….I forgot these two aren't actually brother and sister, but that they call each other that and act like siblings, and that they have that kind of relationship, kinda made uncomfortable a bit inside. "…Sorry, Karen…" Speaking of Karen, I wondered how Caryn was, and how much longer till we'd meet Karol.

"Please, you'll have to excuse him. My name is Karen, and this is Rich." I nodded mainly due to how proud I was that I could remember side character names. "You're operating a traveling inn?" Estelle was sorts of intrigued by this fact, but then again much like a kitten, anything is exotic when you've never seen it before.

"Doesn't the "King of Adventure" refer to something else…something more well-known?" Oh my god….Yuri actually knows something…The world is ending, just kidding. I'm getting loonier, I need to sleep badly. "The late emperor's brother, His Highness Regin, was known by that name thanks to his insatiable thirst for adventure." Estelle was like a walking book…while I admire such vast knowledge, it didn't and doesn't do much for real-world experiences.

"Indeed! We took our name from His Highness Regin. It's true." Gosh she sounded like someone admitting to a crime like, 'Yes, I killed Mufasa!', "…We respect him…"….this guy needs some serious help. "Hmmm, that's a pretty nice name, then." Yuri replied after thinking.

"So are the two of you married?" Karen implied to Estelle and Yuri. Estelle turned pink, "M-Married…? I, I…" (So you're not gonna up and deny it or give them the truth immediately this time then…you bitch…) "They're not married!" I heard Kairi's voice pick up, her cheeks tinged pink, I was shocked but smirked, didn't seem like she was gonna hide from this one, I felt some of my anger fading as Estelle seemed to pout a tiny bit now that Karen's sparkling eyes were on Kairi. "Oh, I'm so sorry, he's your husband then?" It was Kairi's turn to turn pink, I expected her to stutter and be unable to answer but, "No! He's not my husband either!" Though I know she was wishing deep down that he was. What do you know, she told the truth rather than stutter and copy Estelle. "Umm…then," Now it was my turn as she looked at me…seriously? "Do we look like we're married?" Yuri asked, eyebrow raised, tease time. "Oh YEAH! We are totally…" Yuri's eyes went wide and Estelle and Kairi gave me incredulous looks and Karen's eyes looked like they were sparkling, "Not!" Yuri let out a sign of relief, while Estelle and Kairi look dumbfounded still, Karen just silently pouted at my response. "Oh. It seems I was mistaken. So very sorry!" Ah she was such a romantic girl, with dreams to marry Rich, but they won't have Rich's father's blessings until the world's giganto monsters were taken care of if I recall.

"If you're tired, perhaps you'd like to stay the night?" She knows she's got customers here, the Travelers' Lodge was much more frugal than the hotels in the city. "W-What should we do?" For some reason Estelle sounded worried…it's just business sweetie, sheesh, they are not gonna rob us of house and home. Yuri turned to me and Kairi staring at us for a bit before responding, "Sure, we'll sleep here." What was that about?

"Excellent! Thank you very much!" You know Karen was happy, I wonder if they even get customers considering how happy she was. "…Enjoy your shut-eye…" Ah…thank you too Mr. I can't socialize. "Oh, big brother, please! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" …Seriously, the one thing I wish you were sorry for is calling the love of your life your big brother! "N-No, it's quite alright…" Estelle kinda seemed a bit bothered at how rude Rich seemed to be.

Yuri payed up before Karen showed us the rooms. There was 2 sleeping areas inside the wagon that was split in two; men were on the right, women to the left. It was more spacious than I thought it would be, a huge cushion like mattress spread from end to end of the wagon for both areas. It was pretty comfy, although that could be because I'm 5 feet tall. Was it really ok for us to sleep right now? We'd be awake at night…Yuri gave me a look and I figured it best to sleep. I crawled to the far end of the wagon bed mattress, opened the cloth curtains a bit for some light, and fell asleep against the wagon's front wall.

When I woke up the sun was set, but it was still light outside gradually getting darker as the sun sank beyond the horizon. I couldn't find Kairi in the wagon, Estelle was gone too, so I hopped out of the wagon and saw Kairi and Yuri sitting on the same log, Estelle on the other one across from them talking around the fireplace, Repede resting against Kairi's feet. I silently pouted, animals always ended up liking Kairi so quickly, while me, it took time and sometimes it never happened. Yuri looked serious and Estelle looked shocked, just what was Kairi telling them?! I walked over and tried to pretend to be normal despite how nervous I was feeling.

"Hey what's up?" I said interrupting them. They all looked over at me, "Nothing much, just discussing Earth a bit" Yuri told me straight up and Estelle nodded too. Oh god she told Estelle….wait…I suppose that's a good thing? I mean we told Yuri, we both decided THAT at least won't be a secret. Oh good lord don't tell me she told them about Vesperia. A small shake of her head told me she knew what I was thinking, and I felt relieved she hadn't spilled that piece of information.

"Oh, well, what has she covered so far?" I asked suddenly curious.

"Something about this crazy thing called a car." Oh this was gonna be fun! Wait…I got no time for fun…I gotta talk to Kairi about the aer and how we can get her to use her abilities! "Oh well that's fun! Though, ummm…Yuri…Estelle….can I talk to Kairi….alone please?" It would look awkward to them if we just were silent the entire time in front of them. Yuri looked at us one last time before sighing and getting up, Repede doing the same, "Alright, but you're gonna have to go back to bed when it gets dark, we wake up early to leave tomorrow, you two got that?"

"Yes sir," we both said. "Alright then, come on Estelle, back to bed, good night" Yuri said before heading towards the wagon. Estelle silently bowed to me giving me an odd look between sadness and pity before leaving to go back to bed….what did Kairi tell her?

I sat down where Yuri had been, _'So I take it you filled in Estelle on Earth. How'd she take it?'_

' _Well she believes it if you can imagine.'_

Ah I forgot she's so gullible. _'Guess that's a good thing. Well anyways, I wanted to ask, how did you manage to pull off a fire bolt without fainting? You couldn't breathe when I asked you to do thunder bolt and even then you hadn't fully casted it.'_

' _I couldn't breathe doing that one either, but I tried my best to just get through the aer consuming, I guess adrenaline kept me up and conscious and when I sent the aer to my staff, it just stopped, like I could breathe again.'_

' _Hmmm.'_ I sat thinking about it for a bit, until that prefrontal cortex of mine clicked, we're from Earth…Earth has NO AER! Our bodies can't possibly adjust to a sudden intake of it, I mean we're unconsciously taking in aer by just being here, but it's not a huge amount like you take in for casting! _'I GOT IT!'_

' _You….You do?'_

' _YEAH! KAIRI! CAST A SINGLE ICE BOLT AT THE FIRE, BUT GATHER THE AER INTO THE STAFF ITSELF, NOT YOUR BODY! TRY IT!'_

' _Um, ok'_ She began focusing, the ring on the staff which is typically purple started glowing blue, she looked like she was straining a bit, but then a shard of ice the size of a baseball appeared near the staff's ring, and with a point of her staff, hit the fire making it steam a bit, but not enough to turn it off.

' _IT WORKED! Now if I want a boost to my strength I can put aer into my knuckles!'_

' _I'd practice a bit with that first if I were you Liana.'_

I gave her a pouty face, _'What do you mean, practice?'_

' _I have knowledge for drawing in Mana to cast my spells, though of course I normally draw that mana into myself and let it flow like a channel into my staffs and wands when I cast. It's a tiny bit difficult for me to put the aer into my staff without pulling it into my being when I'm used to letting the natural flow of energy course through me to my weapons. You don't have any knowledge on drawing in aer, more so putting it to your weapons, so you might want to practice on that before we get to the Eggbear.'_

I hate it when she is so right. As if sensing that thought she gave me a peace sign. _'Um, Liana…'_

' _Hm? What's up? We should be heading to bed before it gets too dark, I gotta put on the night light, and Yuri will be so angry if we d-'_

' _I think you should talk to Estelle, she told me she wants to apologize to you for how she treated us, and she apologized to me also...'_ She cut me off, and it wasn't something I could easily answer to either, _'You can't keep mad at her forever, she's a big part of this story, sure I know you're probably thinking "Well that shouldn't excuse her", but we're gonna be travelling with them until the end, right? What good does traveling with hate do? Shouldn't we just have fun with it?'_ Dammit I hated when she had a point….

' _You know…sometimes you're too nice for your own good. I gave you too much of that trait.'_

' _Sorry…I also apologize for getting so frustrated that it influenced you also…'_

' _No problem, at least you can get frustrated, that's good news, means that unlike Estelle you can think before you just jump to anything, which lessens any chance of things happening.'_

' _Ehehehe'_ She just laughed, _'Well I'm not at your grouch level either, so, I guess I'm in good territory.'_ Ah that one stung, betrayed by my own creation, whyyyyyy~ Sensing my thoughts Kairi only rolled her eyes, _'Come on, let's get to bed'_

I'd spent the night dreaming about random anime, YouTube memes, and food until Neji Hyuga's ghost showed up with advice for how to make waffles perfectly crunchy. My sudden wake up scream of "NEJIIIIIIII!" like Rock Lee, made everyone wake up at 5 a.m.

* * *

"Ummm, did you rest well?" Karen asked nervously, as we all stood outside awake from my shout, she was probably worried we didn't enjoy the stay.

"Yeah, thanks a lot." Yuri replied, hell it's comfy, cozy, and cheap! Win-win for all of us really.

Karen's spirits lifted right back up, happy with the feedback, "I do hope our paths will cross again, somewhere out on the road!~" Estelle was smiling happy too, "Yes, I hope so, too!"

"…Later…" Ah we'll miss you too you unsociable weirdo.

As we walked up a hill down the path to Deidon Hold, Yuri decided to bring up conversation, "So what was with shouting something like Neji and waking us up about an hour early?" He was pouting.

Ah if I could crawl under a rock I would, "Well Neji's a ghost so…" OH CRAP! I CAN'T TELL THEM ABOUT TV AND ANIME! THAT WOULD ALMOST BE GIVING AWAY THEIR FROM A VIDEO GAME! I could tell them he's from a fairytale book….but…if I say that, Estelle will want me to tell her the story of Naruto…and that's a very long story, for books that long there's usually no pictures, so then she'd wonder how I knew it was Neji…

"A Ghost?!" Estelle looked frightened. Ah darn it think fast! Think! Think!...BRAIN BLAST! "Yeah, my pal Neji, he died a few years ago, he showed up in my dream." Oh my god Neji is now a friend, how awesome does that sound!

"What would your dead friend be doing in your dreams?" Yuri asked, "He wanted to tell you something?" He looked curious. "Oh, he wanted to tell me the secret to perfect crunchy waffles….oh and also Hyuga." I was gonna bust my gut if I kept this up. "Waffles?" Yuri asked blankly, "and what's a Hyuga?"

"Waffles are like crunchier versions of pancakes, and Hyuga is Neji's last name." Oh god please stop it, I'm not sure how much longer my poker face can last.

"Ummm…I don't quite understand it, but you were shocked to see your friend in your dream, so you shouted for him, right?" Estelle asked as if she figured out the answer…I just decided best to say she was right than keep this up. "Yup that's about it." I answered back plainly.

"Oh look!" Kairi shouted pointing ahead, the large walls visible in the short distance, our next destination, Deidon Hold! "Woof!" Repede who was next to Yuri barked as if to say 'Finally' as we all walked down the hill to the inside of the Hold.

There were so many Knights around, Yuri and Estelle were nervous, so was Kairi and I. "Do you think those knights followed you here?" Estelle asked, she sounded a bit nervous but it was obvious she was ready to look around. "I wonder. Well, let's do our best not to stand out" Yuri told the three of us.

"Okay. And I want to catch up with Flynn as soon as I can." My god she looked so lovesick saying that. "All right, let's see if we can just pass through the Hold." Oh its best we don't, if we do we'll be so far down the path when the monsters arrive, and the odds of us making it back to the Hold before the gate closes would be HIGHLY slim. On cue, Estelle spotted the Vega stall and went to read the book. "Where's she off to now?" Yuri said sounding a bit annoyed that Estelle ran off like that; Repede walked over to Kairi's side as Yuri walked over to Estelle to try to get her back with us while we waited near the gate exit.

Kairi scratched Repede behind the ears and pet him for what felt like 15 minutes until Yuri and Estelle finally returned with book in hand. "You all ready to go?" We both just nodded, and before we could take a step.

KAN KAN KAN KAN KAN KAN KAN, the bells chimed like crazy, knights began running around everywhere, people began running back inside the Hold, it was sheer pandemonium! "Hurry, get inside! The gate's closing!" Ah there was Kaufman, probably shouting to some guildies who were outside the Hold.

"Arrows! Bring the arrows!" Oooo sounds like fun! "Shut the gate now!" "Dammit! What are they doing here this time of the year?" Migrating maybe? They may be monsters, but they do have instincts. "The monsters will fall back if we stop the main charge! Remember your training!" I had to laugh a bit at that, his voice was so damaged he sounded like a monster himself.

Watching the rain of arrows flying towards the clouds of dust was awe inspiring if I did say so, it was like watching a Spartan movie or something. "OK! They're all in. Close it up!" Was this guy blind?! Did he not see that little girl curled up outside?! "Hold the gate! There's still more…" Ah I loved Kaufman so much. The last of the people came inside, all except for the guy with the hurt leg, the tiny girl curled up with her doll, and….an old woman who collapsed on the ground and couldn't get up….SOME GET HER LIFE ALERT!

Compared to the game the monsters looked pretty far back, but just how fast were they traveling? I could just barely make out Brutal in the center of the pack. Estelle just had her hand capped to her mouth, the girl had never seen a stampede of Monster's before after all, "Are all those….monsters…?" No their wild hogs migrating for the spring, of course their monsters! Although….you could just call them overgrown hogs….wonder if they'd taste good….would make meat prices go down if it was edible, no one would go hungry, one of them could feed like maybe 5-10 families depending on the size of the family.

"We just left the capital and things are already getting crazy…" despite his tone, Yuri had an amused expression on his face, the face that said 'this is gonna be fun', "That's it. I'm cursed. I know it." Yup you sure are Mr. Lowell. Yuri began charging at the gate with Repede, Kairi and I following behind him leaving Estelle looking shocked to read the situation and get a move on! "…?! The gate!" Kaufman shouted, oh right, that scaredy-cat knight is still lowering it. Repede charged him and growled, swinging his sword at him a few times to get him to stop lowering the gate. "Wh-what the hell! Cut it out!" You big wimp.

"Estelle, Kairi, Liana, you wait over—He-Hey! " Yuri shouted as we all ran past him, Kairi and I heading to the old lady as Estelle ran over to heal the injured guy, "Help the girl!" Estelle shouted. He could only put on that hilarious amused look and agree in defeat, "…Whatever you say." Estelle began healing the guy's leg as he ranted about the monsters, once he was healed they ran back to the Hold. Kairi and I got to the old woman and put one of her arms around us and helped her up, picking her up off her feet in case she couldn't run, and began running with her back to the Hold making sure not to be too rough. Yuri was right behind us with the little girl…under his right arm…you could at least do princess style carry for her, a little girl would appreciate her hero doing that for her Yuri. Though I couldn't help remembering he did the same exact thing for Emma in The First Strike movie, but he had wolves to fight.

As we got inside there came the terrifying words, "My doll, mama's doll!" (Seriously, it's just a doll, why does Estelle want to go get it, and why does Yuri have to risk his life for it?) I couldn't help but think of the 4-Koma comic's version of this where 'mama's doll' actually belongs to the mother, bawling her eyes out in thanks for Yuri getting her doll back hahaha. Estelle tried to run out of the Hold to go get the doll, but Kairi and Yuri held her back, "Hey! Let go of me!"…Seriously it's just cloth guys….but I can understand this poor little girl is gonna be so disappointed if it's not brought back. "You wait here with Liana and Kairi!" and with that Yuri ran out to grab the doll.

As Yuri began running back, I began noticing something strange…compared to in the game, the monsters weren't that close to Yuri at all, where as in the game they were about on his tail, and….THE GATE! The Gate was lower than what it appeared to be in the game, though Yuri did slide through a small gap in the game, but…this looks….so much lower…

"Yuri! Please Hurry! Please!" Kairi shouted as she got on her knees, her hand on the gate as if she could hold it in place, her head looking out at Yuri, her eyes filled with worry and going down to the floor following the gate as it began getting lower and lower. Yuri slid to try to slide into the gap and the gate shut. Estelle stared at the gate with her hands clasped to her mouth in horror, Kairi quickly jumping up from the ground patting the gate frantically shouting, I stared at the spot Yuri should be dumbfounded…Yuri wasn't there….

* * *

Hurray for first evil cliff hanger and plot change! Oh my god this one was long. It's long to scroll down through due to all the sentences I cut apart; because, who likes to read one giant wall of text? I admire how some writers can wrap up an area in like 1 chapter, but it takes me like 3 chapters just to get out of one castle…

Justin: That's because you suck at writing in general.

You don't have to remind me…..but I did jump from 3k words to 4k words, to 7k-9k words now. Oh and also, I really do want someone to translate the Danzaisha no Keifu manga (AKA the Genealogy of the Convictor/Condemned) man, I got 6 chapters fully scanned, just need them to be cleaned and translated...I've also had chores galore since after the garage sale, so it's taking me like 3 days+ instead of 1 or 1 and a half days to get a chapter done more so a drabble.

Justin: Find a translating group on a manga website. You must have a lot of free time if it only takes you 3 days or so for one….

A bit….but what do you expect with my cancelled vacation? *sobs*

Justin: You ain't gonna let that go are you?

NO I SURE AS HELL AM NOT! I NEED A VACATION AFTER 2 SEMESTERS OF HELL! I was looking forward to sunny beaches! Sightseeing in a state I'd never been to! Playing in an actual arcade for once! And going back home with the trunk full of prizes!...But mom always has to have the final word….and I understand she's very sick…so I just gotta accept that this summer is gonna suck…and the one after that….and the one after that…

Justin: Why not next summer?

She has decided to permanently ban vacations until she passes on….the only one who can go on vacation is my dad….because she will not allow me or my little brother to go alone out of town more so out of state, plus if my dad goes on vacation that means we gotta stay behind to tend to her needs…

Justin: …Sucks having a disabled parent…my sympathies…

…She also promised to make it up on my birthday…but my birthday…

Justin: Didn't your grandma die on your birthday last year?

…AH! NO ONE IN MY FAMILY IS GONNA WANNA CELEBRATE OR GO ANYWHERE ON A DAY THAT MY GRANDMA DIED! ...I hate my life….Anyways….

Next time: Duke Pantarei and Quoi woods~, Will we meet Karol? Even I dunno if 8k words can take us there….


	7. 6: The Delusion Making Forest

So it's the fourth of July now! Yay! Gonna be gone to the casino to watch some fireworks and play some blackjack in a bit; since it seems my luck goes up that day every time I watch those fireworks every year.

I also am aware that I've skipped some skits, like the 'Nice to Meet You, Repede', well there's like 5-6 hours' worth of skits for the PS3 though that includes Flynn and Patty (Still thinking on 'if' and 'how' I can add her to this story since I can't find many PS3 playthroughs with the English patch on since my PS3 only has Japanese subs, no patch).

I can't fit ALL of them in this story or we'll never get to places. I will place them in drabbles though once the story reaches its end, I'll even place the setting down on where these missed skits were supposed to happen.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Vesperia, Any music that may be sung, Justin, or Caryn (Though yes I do have permission to use my pal's OCs) I DO OWN, Kairi, Myself, and my work in this fiction, that is all.

* * *

This wasn't supposed to be happening…he was supposed to slide epically and end up safe on this side…but the dark haired swordsman was nowhere in my sights. My brain was turning into white noise…what do we do? What can I do?! Kairi was shouting for Yuri and pounding on the gate, Estelle was in a state of shock and couldn't move, I could barely hear a tiny "Dammit" coming from the other side of the gate. I began panicking as the sound of the rumbling hooves grew close to the gate, I tried thinking on the spot as best I could. I turned to the guard who had lowered the gate and shouted, "OPEN THE GATE A BIT! THERE'S STILL SOMEONE OUT THERE!"

The guard was shaking in his boots still, "I-I-I can't! The-The monsters will get in!" Oh my god how stupid can this guy be?! I was getting pissed now, I ran up to him and grabbed his shirt yanking him upright despite my 5 feet to his almost 6 feet, "I DON'T MEAN OPEN IT A LOT YOU DUMBASS SHIT! OPEN IT ENOUGH TO LET HIM CRAWL INSIDE! THE MONSTERS CAN'T FIT UNDER THAT! HE'LL DIE IF WE DON'T DO SOMETHING! NOW GET THAT GATE OPEN!" He only stuttered and shook still, "I-I can't! I'm sorry! I really can't!" Good lord….forgive me…I socked him one in the gut hard, "FINE YOU PUSSY! IF YOU'RE NOT GONNA BE MAN ENOUGH TO DO IT, I WILL!" As I reached to grab the lever he grabbed my arms, wrestling with me on the ground while everyone watched and gasped at a common girl who was fighting with an armored knight. The other knights just watching wondering if they should detain me or not with how fierce I was becoming.

"Yuri! YURI! YURI!" Kairi's shouting was becoming louder, her voice was cracking with fear and oncoming tears that threatened to fall from her eyes, her hands becoming blood red from pounding on the gate so hard and from blood from splinters being embedded into her hands, "YUUUURRIIIIIIII!"

A bright flash of light like thunder appeared out of the corner of my eye and people's gasps made us both stop wrestling on the ground to look at what had startled everyone…."Ow. What the-how did I…?"….Yuri….

At that Kairi stiffened up and stopped her relentless abuse on the gate, her hands on the gate, her face still facing the gate, shaking, absolutely refusing to turn around even when a loud bang from the monster colliding into the gate was heard and vibrated from it. Estelle's eyes began to water up with relief, "Yuri!" How did he…? What happened…?

"…Yuri…?" Kairi's voice was so soft and small despite the crack of sadness that accompanied it, she still didn't turn around, her face was hidden behind her hair, afraid that it was all just some cruel joke.

"…You see! There was someone out there! Next time, be a man you chicken, you're no knight to me!" I spat at the guard I was on top of with my fist still drawn back to punch him in the face from his now lifted up helmet. "Yuri, you okay?" I shouted getting up off the still trembling knight, mainly because I did want to know if he was ok, but also because I knew Kairi wouldn't budge from that spot unless she knew it wasn't some prank.

"Yeah, I'm good. Though I don't get how." He looked at me slightly amused at seeing me fighting with a knight, but he soon realized Kairi wasn't in front of him and turned to see Kairi at the gate, "Hey, you okay there Kairi?" She was trembling badly, with possibly all the will she had she slowly turned around, as he came into her vision piece by piece, her eyes began to water up so bad I thought she had water for eyes. Haru would want to swim in them so badly if he ever saw them. "….Yuri…."

"Whoa! Hey. I'm fine, so you don't have to-" Yuri suddenly was taken aback by Kairi's tear filled eyes, but it was too late for that. With a thud she fell to her knees, her bloody splintered hands covering her face, "UUUWAAAAAAAAAUUUUUHHHHHHHAAAHHHHHHH!" She began sobbing loudly and uncontrollably into her hands, Estelle snapping out of her shock ran over to her to pat and rub her back to try to calm her down.

I had to smile, I figured out what had happened…it was the same thing that brought us here…Kairi who was in a shocked state and her emotions heavy, wished to see Yuri….so we came here from a warp in reality she made unknowingly…..Kairi who didn't want Yuri to die, her emotions at boiling point, warped reality again unknowingly and brought him in to safety, like she wanted him to be…ah, she was an uncontrollable mess, but…that was what made me, me…what made us, us…what made her, Kairi.

Yuri was too busy worrying about the scene we were making, and that he didn't know what to do with a crying girl. He hadn't ever consoled a crying girl before, even with the twins when Niren died, Yuri let them cry rather than comfort them. I walked over to her and threw my arms around her shoulders in a light hug, petting her hair to soothe her, she and I like that a lot. I spoke almost quietly so no one around, but us four could hear, "Kairi, mou nakanaide. Yuri wa daijoubu da yo." She sniffled and looked up at me helplessly, snot dripping down her nose to her chin like a river, where's a camera when you need one? "Hic…Honto ni?" she asked in a shaky voice, she got some hiccups too. "Sou, kono otoko wa kizu ga nai deshou." She very slowly peaked at Yuri from her fingers a bit and determined he was safe, and slowly nodded while trying her best to wipe her face and stop her hiccups, the other two staring at us rather confused.

A chiming ring and I figured out Estelle was healing Kairi's hands, "We need to get those splinters out before I can heal them again." I nodded and helped Kairi up who was still sniffling as we walked over to Yuri who was sitting on the ground still sighing, doll in hands as the little girl came over to collect it from him. The tiny girl gave Yuri a tight hug that startled him, "Oh, thank you so much mister!" This was cute enough as is, only thing that could make it better what if she was his and had said 'daddy' instead of 'mister'.

"How can I ever thank you?" The mother asked Yuri, Estelle put her hands to her cheeks and flushed embarrassedly, "Oh, it's nothing, really…" (Ummm…Estelle…..honey, that compliment wasn't for you AT ALL….you did jack for the little girl, you helped the guy with the injured leg!) The guy with the injured leg walked forward, "I'm not sure what I would have done if you hadn't cured me. Thanks!" (Now you can act all embarrassed from the compliment cause that one was for you.)

Repede trotted over to us, the knight that I had fought sitting on his bum completely worn out from our struggle. "…I'm just thankful that everyone's safe…" Estelle got out, as if she had been holding it back from an unasked question, "Whoa…" and with that she plopped onto her knees. "All worn out, huh?" She hardly did anything, if anything it's gotta be mental tiredness, that moment was more than enough to wipe a weeks' worth of energy from my life I'll say. Kairi plopped down as well, and I decided to sit down too, Yuri sitting right between me and Estelle. "It really is dangerous beyond the barriers with so many ferocious monsters around."

Kairi was fidgeting with her hands a bit, probably in throbbing pain with the splinters, "Oh Kairi, let me see your hands. I don't have tweezers, but I'll do my best to get them out" Estelle asked holding out her hand to Kairi. Kairi complied and handed over her hand, wincing in pain as Estelle pulled out a hanky from somewhere, and wiped off the blood on her hand carefully and began removing splinter shards one by one. "This place could definitely use a barrier against a pack that big," Yuri's focus was on Kairi's hands, his expression a bit upset, Estelle stopped pulling out splinters with a look like a lightbulb had gone off in her head, "Couldn't they install a barrier blastia here?" If only it was that simple, eh?

"No. Barrier are a precious resource," Yuri sounded like he was pouting a bit. "You're right…" Estelle went back to focusing on Kairi's hand, finishing up and switching to the next hand, "and with the current technology, we can't make anymore." Estelle stopped once again to look at the sky as if it would give her an answer, "If only we could recover the secrets of the ancient Geraios civilization…They created the blastia… (Oh Estelle…if you only knew….if people knew the secret of why the Geraios civilization collapsed due to blastia, there would be activists against blastia, and those who want blastia, riots would begin, and then the Adephagos might arise faster than Alexei can call it.)

"Even if that were to happen, I can't see the empire using the knowledge for the common good." Good point there Yuri, I mean look at Earth, knowledge like that leads to new 'toys', which leads to war cause other countries view you as a threat, which leads to more 'toys' being made, and we've gotten all the way up to the threat of nuclear warfare…

Estelle finished up Kairi's other hand and them cast first aid on them, telling her not to over use her hands for a while. Yuri got up quickly as soon as he saw a knight stroll up to us, he pointed at me mostly, guess I caused too much trouble for their poor baby knight, "You four there. I'd like to have a word with you." Yuri gave me a look that said 'see, I told you', I just rolled my eyes waiting for Tison to speak up, "So why don't you let us through? I'll beat those monsters to a pulp with these fists of mine!"

The knight that was talking to us ran over to where they were, "How many times do I have to say it? These monsters are tougher than you think!" Actually…I could see them pulling it off, but we do have to take down Brutal for Rich and Karen's sake eventually, so they can't have him. "You dare to doubt the power of the monster hunters?" It's the Hunting Blades Tison, secret Monster Hunter reference? Though looking at Tison right now, the large bandana on his head that covered his eyes made him look like Undertaker from Black Butler before he revealed his face and left, only he's not pestering people to give him true laughter or being randomly weird.

Clint raised his sword up and the knights got scared, "S-stop!" God, these guys are all such wimps, they need Olivier Mira Armstrong to toughen this place up! With a single swing Clint broke a nearby barrel, "Stay out of this! You Knights cheated us out of a job back there, and now we're gonna work off some steam!"

"Hey hold it!" Another Knight said as another one ran in to join the others, "It's always the same with these guild idiots!" Oh not all guilds, just that guild that has muscles and hatred for brains. "Great, we'll never get through as long as this keeps up" Yuri annoyingly pointed out, it was Estelle's turn to jump up, "But Flynn is headed to Halure, and we're so close" she really sounded like a pouting child. "Sheesh, how thirsty are you?" I muttered out, receiving a nudge from Kairi for that. "Well, getting caught by the knights wouldn't be too fun. Let's find another way through" Yuri suggested before walking off, all of us following.

* * *

-*- Quite a Scene -*-

Estelle: We made quite a scene, didn't we? I was so worried once those knights noticed us…

Yuri: I told you we couldn't stand out.

Liana: Says the guy who got locked out of the Hold.

Yuri: !

Kairi: ….

Estelle: Yes, you were the one who just jumped Yuri.

Liana: So did you Estelle…

Estelle: O-Oh, *embarrassed* right.

Yuri: Hey, you're the one who fought a knight, Liana. I can't just look away when monsters are attacking someone right in front of me, right?

Estelle: Heh heh.

Yuri: What's so funny?

Estelle: I'm sorry. That sounded just like the way Flynn described you, that's all. He often said that you could never turn a blind eye when someone near you was suffering.

Yuri: Well, next time you see him, you tell him that I said he's the same way.

Estelle: Heh heh. I'll do that.

* * *

-*- Strange Language -*-

Estelle: Liana?

Liana: Hm? What?

Estelle: I was wondering, what was that strange language you and Kairi were talking with back near the gate.

Liana: That was Japanese, it's one of the many languages on Earth. I know it cause I happen to love a lot of Japanese songs and books.

Yuri: So, what did you say?

Liana: None of your business.

Yuri: You said my name when you were talking to Kairi, so I'm pretty sure it's my business.

Liana: Yeah but in Japanese the word Yuri has 2 meanings, 1 means the Lily flower.

Yuri: What's the second one?

Liana: Girl on Girl.

Yuri: ! What the?!

Liana: Still wanna know?

Yuri: … I think I'll pass…

* * *

As we walked down to the bottom area, Kaufman approached us, her helper on her left side and….

"You there, how about coming to work for me? You'll be paid, of course." Kaufman asked Yuri, well more like trying to buy Yuri, but my eyes went wide with who was at her right side. Yuri obviously turned away uninterested, "Watch your manners around the President. Well, whad-" the left hand guy was cut off by Kairi and me shouting in unison, "JUSTIN!" That made Yuri, Estelle, and Kaufman stare at us with wide eyes and confusion.

He was dressed in a very nice white, black, and brown outfit that enhanced his more natural good looks, dual pistols, one on each side of him and a dagger strapped on a belt around his waist, dammit Vesperia, why you make me wear this eyesore and give him something that awesome?! One good look at me and he shouted back, "LIANA! YOU'RE HERE TOO?!" Kairi's smile quickly faded, of course, she had never met Justin in person, and all he's ever seen of her was drawings I made of her or when I played Mabinogi. "Excuse me Boss, I'm gonna talk to my friend for a while if you don't mind" Justin told Kaufman, who stared at him for a while then nodded and gave him permission, he grabbed my hand and we ran off further down the path to the bottom area to talk, while Kaufman tried to buy Yuri. Kairi stayed behind since Justin didn't know who she was at all.

Once we were sure no one was around we spoke, "So what the hell? You got sent here too? You're working for Kaufman? What the hell man?!" He stared at me blankly before putting out his hand and stopping me, "First let me do one thing…" I raised an eyebrow, "What?" His face puffed up and, "BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" He gripped his sides laughing like a mad hyena, "OH MY GOD! SWEET BABY JESUS! YOUR CLOTHES! THEY ARE SO LAME! WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT EVEN SUPPOSE TO BE?! HAHAHAHHA!"

I felt myself getting red in both embarrassment and anger, "Ahem! Is that all, you asshole?" With a shake of his head for no, he laughed a bit more before continuing, "*cough* Yeah well, when I got here I was in the middle of nowhere, Kaufman picked me up and offered me a spot in the guild after I shot out some monsters attacking their caravan. Bought me new clothes, the works to be a body guard."

I envied that he could use ranged weapons so easily, I had trouble using the shot guns in the bass pro shops, "So, you going to join us? I mean how does this work, you're with Fortune's Market now, and" He put his hand out to interrupt me, "Whoa, whoa, I'm staying with the guild, it pays good, not too much action all the time so I get to be lazy, and I get to see all the girls of the world as I travel, my charms just wile them into buying our stuff, y'know." I rolled my eyes, of course he'd be in it for the girls, and his tan probably makes the girls crazy since tan isn't seen here much in Vesperia land, but…"So you're not planning on getting back home?" He stared at me like I was dumb, "OF COURSE I'M GOING HOME! Just call me once we get to that point Liana, kay~"

Now it was my turn to stare at him like he was dumb, "Why do I gotta do the work? YOU NEED TO HELP OUT TOO YOU KNOW!" He looked at me seriously, "I am helping, I'm raising up the 500k gald on the side for that side quest that you gotta give that lady who runs the orphanage…plus I don't know the whole story like you do Lian, I've only seen you play a few areas of the game a few times, that does not make me an expert." He had a point, though the 500k side quest was just that, a side quest, but actually thinking about it….I would feel like shit leaving those poor children with no cash after we kill Yeager aka the source of their income…"I hate it when you know what buttons to press."

He could only give me the victory sign as the area shook from the monster's ramming the walls, "Well anyways, I probably should be getting back to Yuri and the others", I began walking off.

"Oh yeah hey!" I turned as he stopped me, "Who was that hot chick with you guys? I don't remember her being in the game." I sweat dropped…he couldn't tell, "That was Kairi. My OC remember?" He stared at me like I had two heads then scratched his head and asked, "Whoa wait, aren't OCs supposed to you know…not exist, or if you get teleported someone you like take on your OC's appearance, I mean what the fuck…" Ah Justin, I wish you could join us, but…"Well she exists here now, got a problem with that?" He just gave me a smirk, "So can I tap that then?" I rolled my eyes, "No you can't Romeo, save it for the plentiful women of Vesperia." My god he was reminding me of Zelos so much right now, I began leaving with him following behind me.

"Justin…." He looked down at me, "What's up?" I smiled up at him, "Thanks for helping out with this man…" He almost tripped but covered it up with some random moves, "Well it'd leave a bad taste in my mouth since these people are….not video game characters right now…they're alive…" He stopped and looked in thought for a minute before shaking his head and following behind me again. "Yeah, I know."

Halfway back up Estelle and Kairi ran down towards us, seems Estelle is trying to get her second, third, maybe even 16th opinion, who knew. "Umm Mister…Justin was it?" Justin nodded and smirked, "Yup that's me." She looked up at him pleadingly, "Yes, you see…we're in a hurry to get to Halure so, do you know any alternative routes?" He stared at her and was about to open his mouth when I nudged him in the back not to say anything stupid. "Urgh…well…I honestly don't know too much either." She looked sad, "B-but..." she then blinked a bit and recalled, "Oh right. If you're friends with Kairi and Liana, it must mean you're from Earth. I'm sorry it's just…I'm in a hurry, so" He stared back at me, grabbed my shoulders and shook me, "You told them about Earth?!" I felt myself getting dizzy, "Yes, I figured it wasn't a bad idea!" He let go and bowed to Estelle, "Um can you please not tell my boss anything about Earth? She doesn't know and for the time being before a way home can be found, I'd like to keep my job, please." Estelle stared at him startled, "O-Oh alright, I promise I won't say anything." He sighed in relief before saying bye to us and rushing off to catch up with Kaufman.

Estelle plopped on the ground, Repede sticking to Kairi's side as Yuri came down the hill towards us, "Guys." Estelle turned away, " I…I'm not waiting around for the monsters to leave or anything. I'm just resting a little." Sure Estelle that was so convincing…"Oh, I see. Well then, I guess I'll just have to take the other way around with Liana and Kairi." As he turned around to leave Repede quickly chased after him, Kairi and I following behind him. "What? How did you…? Hey, wait for me!" Estelle chased after us, but my curiosity wasn't going to let us leave just yet. I ran towards the knight's area that leads up top of the hold. Yuri shouting for me to get back here, but I lied saying I wanted to see the view from above, when really I wanted to see Duke.

As we climbed up to the top, there was Mr. Panty Raid himself. Estelle walked over to him as I looked out at the view whistling at how high up we were. Duke remained silent, "…Hey, hold on…" Yuri was a bit nervous with Estelle just casually approaching him, maybe cause he's dressed so fancy Yuri thinks he may be a snob. "Hello" Estelle greeted, "Um, I beg your pardon, but…what are you looking at?" Why Estelle he's viewing the monster filled plains, what else?

"…Humanity at work. Their tenacious attachment to this life…" I squirmed earning an odd look from Yuri, I had fucking forgotten Duke's voice actor…was Nier's voice actor! I was getting turned on by his voice big time and I could feel my face getting red, but goddammit Duke is not my type!

Estelle could only stare confused at Duke's words, "Why…? Why must humans live the lives they do? They fight for a share of monopolized technology and hurt even those closest to them…" I probably would've joined him for a philosophical conversation if my panties weren't getting so wet. "Hm….?" Estelle was still confused, "…Are you talking about blastia?" Yuri asked finally interested in the conversation.

Duke just stayed silent and ignored him, "I can't speak for anyone else, but…It doesn't seem to me like there's any reason why we get dumped into the world. But once you're here, you just do what you can to give this life everything you got." Good one Yuri, "Perhaps there is truth in what you say…" and with that, Duke took his leave. "H-hey…!" Yuri called out but Duke was now gone, "He's gone…What was that all about…?" Estelle sounded not too pleased at having been ignored.

"Got me. They say the heat can make people go a little crazy." Estelle looked confused again, "Is it hot?" "Usually that depends on the person, what may be hot to one person may be cold to another," I replied recalling every single time I was freezing, my mother was hot when I'd visit her, so I always had to bring winter attire just in case. "Oh, I didn't know that."

* * *

-*- Guilds -*-

Yuri: That woman who gave us directions- - she said she was in a guild, right?

Liana: Huh? Who're you talking about? Justin's boss?

Yuri: Yeah, her.

Estelle: That was Ms. Kaufman, of Fortune's Market.

Yuri: Man…Giving up their rights as imperial citizens and just…living free…

Estelle: Yuri, are you interested in the guilds?

Yuri: Interested? Nah, I've just never had much contact with them. Back in the capital there weren't any gritty guild types who'd refuse the Knights' protection.

Estelle: We may meet lots of people in guilds before we're done with our trip.

Yuri: I hope they're a little less aggressive than that woman was.

* * *

-*- Justin -*-

Yuri: So that Justin guy, he's your friend?

Liana: Mhm, we've been friends for many years now.

Yuri: So I take it he's also from Earth?

Liana: Yep, he was in the room with me, Kairi, and Caryn who was hangout out with us on Skype.

Estelle: Skype?

Liana: Oh, it's a program that allows us to see each other over long distances, kinda like a projection, which is good because Caryn lives overseas in a place called England.

Estelle: That sounds wonderful! To be able to meet people from across an entire continent.

Yuri: This Caryn that was supposedly in the room with you from another continent, did she end up here as well?

Liana: Can't say, she's all the way across the ocean, it just seems like those who were in the room, though in a technical sense she was there, but I don't know.

Yuri: Well anyways, what did you guys talk about?

Liana: Well after he laughed about my clothes, it was mainly about how to get home…

Yuri: Does he have any ideas?

Liana: Nope, he said he'd try to find a way through travelling with the guilds and for us not to mention Earth to his guild mates or Boss, but he said if I find the way first I'm slapped with the responsibility of calling him and getting him *sigh*. Oh! And Kairi.

Kairi: Yeah?

Liana: *dead pan* Don't ever talk to him alone.

Kairi: Oh, okay…

* * *

-*- Watch and Learn -*-

Estelle: You look very good swinging a sword, Yuri.

Yuri: You're not bad yourself, Estelle.

Estelle: Really? My swordmaster used to scold me terribly…

Yuri: Well, I have to admit I'd be surprised if you looked TOO natural.

Kairi: ….

Yuri: Hm? What's up Kairi?

Liana: You made her all pouty.

Yuri: Huh? I did?

Estelle: I really don't like fighting…I don't like hurting people…

Yuri: How ladylike of you.

Estelle: But…if I don't fight, I'll end up hurt, myself, right?

Liana: I usually don't like to throw the first swing, but if anyone tries to fight with me….mama said knock them out.

Yuri: Yeah, that's pretty much how it works.

Estelle: I wish I could enjoy fighting like you do, Yuri…

Yuri: You think I enjoy this?

Estelle: Don't you? I mean, the way your eyes shine…That only happens when you're fighting.

Yuri: O-oh, really?...Wow, you're pretty observant.

Estelle: Yes, I like watching people.

Kairi: … *backs away*

Liana: Yeah….*backs away* That was one of those 100% creepy run in the other direction moments….

Estelle: Huh? *sad* Creepy?

* * *

-*- Better? -*-

Yuri: Huh, seems like you're getting along a little better now than before.

Liana: Huh? Better with what?

Yuri: With Estelle, before you wouldn't even talk to her.

Liana: It's not like that, I just so happen to have a conscience with injured hands who wouldn't stop pestering me on it.

Yuri: Yeah, Kairi filled me in that you two share some kind of connection that allows you to feel each other's emotions at times, and Kairi's frustrations along with your own cause you to get upset at Estelle back at the castle.

Liana: Ugh, she can never shut her mouth…Don't start misunderstanding me, sure some of Kairi's emotions cut into me causing me to rage, but can you explain why you can dislike someone you just met and don't truly know them?

Yuri: Huh?

Liana: You can't, right? Not many people can, there's just a lot about her that, I don't know, it just irks me really bad even without Kairi's emotions. I like that she's so nice, selfless, and naïve, but other things about her really bother me. *fuming* So don't you start asking me to sit and talk with her too or so help me Yuri Lowell I'll find a way to dye your hair blonde! *walks off*

Yuri: ! ... Well…I guess, that's progress...?

* * *

After a bit of a walk from the Hold and some monsters later we arrived at the beginning of Quoi Woods, my tummy rumbling a bit since we hadn't eaten since the morning with Karen and Rich who made us some Bacon and Eggs (They know the way to my heart~), how much longer until we can eat? "…A forest in a place like this can only mean…the Quoi Woods…?" Estelle sounded frightened as she looked around cautiously. "Bingo. You're just full of information, aren't you?" Yup, put her on a Terca Lumireis game show and she'd probably win the jackpot.

"I read in a book once that a curse will fall upon anyone who enters the woods…" Estelle was now freaking herself out, Yuri thought for a moment, "Ah, so that must be the 'surprise'." Yuri began walking off, but Estelle wasn't budging, "Um, Estelle, you can't believe every single thing that's in a book" Kairi replied trying to settle her down. "Yeah, it's like the internet, there's false information and then there's credible information, it takes a bit of research to find if something is credible, but some books really do like to push their views onto others with no credibility at all, so let's get going" I stated as Yuri and Estelle looked at me strangely, they probably would want to know what the internet is on the way.

Yuri had to bait her, "Not going in? That's fine by me, but what about Flynn?" Yup that got her to stop freaking out for the moment, "…I know. Okay, let's go!"

As we walked they of course asked about the internet, "The internet works along with the World Wide Web, it's like a network of people's computers, a computer is a device to use the internet, and people share their information, files, etc. like a database and the web is the way to access that database for information, entertainment, and a method of connection between people all around the world who can get the internet." Estelle's eyes just sparkled, "Wow that sounds so amazing!" I was so tempted to tell her about porn sites, other sites with satanic rituals, and other dark things, even the internet has a dark side. "How does a place that's a database for information have entertainment?" Yuri asked, "Videos, Multimedia, Chat rooms, games," I coughed and muttered lowly enough for him to hear, "porn," he visibly blanched, "but it's got a lot of things that can entertain most people if they just look for it." We had to stop speaking and fight when a few Axe Beaks popped out of nowhere from the bushes.

* * *

-*- The Curse, as Estelle Knows It -*-

Estelle: *Freaked out* Will this forest really get us to the other side of the Hold?

Yuri: If it doesn't, we'll just come back.

Estelle: …But what if I get turned into a frog or a snake by the forest's curse?!

Yuri: If that happens, I'll take care of you.

Estelle: You'll…take care of me?

Kairi: …

Yuri: Of course I would. Don't worry. I had pet frogs and snakes when I was a kid.

Liana: I dunno about frogs, but if you're a snake, I'll take you in.

Estelle: You too Liana? Really?

Liana: Yup *smirks evilly* depending on your size I'll be sure to feed you plenty of fat, ripe, juicy mice every day.

Estelle: *freaking out* M-MICE?!

Yuri: *sighs* Well that's the nicest thing she's said to her...

* * *

After many fights and chests later despite the disapproval from Estelle I started hearing a humming sound, seems like we're getting near that blastia. I would have asked myself how Estelle got the blastia working with a touch, but it happened in Myorzo when Raven left with her too, Rita said her powers were an exception to the rules. "Did you hear something?" Estelle began to freak out again and ran up to Yuri's side, "My feet feel cold all of a sudden…Oh no! Is this the curse?!" My god girl, settle down you're going delusional.

Yuri just raised an eyebrow, "What sort of curse is it supposed to be, anyway?"

"The voices of corpses buried beneath the trees creep up and lure us to our doom…" ….Oh my god…

"Oh, brother." Yuri said, of course he didn't believe it, who in their right mind would? Estelle looked around and spotted something in the brush, "…What's that?" it was the blastia that was humming, though it looked offline.

Yuri walked over to it, Estelle following after, followed by Kairi and me. Kairi clutched her chest a bit along with Estelle and I began slumping a little, good god, even not fully activated that thing is letting out a lot of aer. Yuri turned around and took one good look at us and decided, "Let's take a break." Yeah um, can we do that somewhere away from the blastia please? Estelle stopped grabbing her chest and stood up straight, though she clearly wasn't ok, "I-I'm alright." She walked a bit further and, "Huh? What's this?" (Didn't she seriously see that thing a few moments ago? Why would she ask what it is when Yuri said what it was?)

She walked over to it and I didn't get to turn the cogs in my head fast enough, this thing was letting out a lot of aer unactivated, how bad was it gonna be activated?! Wait, but we were fine within the barrier blastia in Zaphias so, but then that light, what if-. Though it was far too late for me to tell her not to touch it as she leaned over and touched it, a bright light blinding us, Kairi and I suddenly dropped to the ground with no air, not even enough to shout or scream, our chests becoming constricted and tightened. Dang it Estelle why was your first thought to touch it?! I saw Yuri kneeling down between all of us shouting something, perhaps our names, but my consciousness didn't last long, as I was swallowed up by darkness.

* * *

I groggily woke up feeling like shit, "Uhhhh, anyone get the license plate on that ride?" I heard a whine and realized I was using Repede as a pillow. "So you alright?" I heard Yuri ask, "Oh yeah, I'm just peachy." My tummy rumbled and I turned around to see Estelle sitting by Yuri biting into a Nia Fruit, but oh was I going to tease Kairi for a while for this. Estelle had apparently gotten to use Repede's other side as a pillow while I had this side of Repede, but since there's not enough Repede to go around, Kairi got the privilege of resting on Yuri's lap. I heard Kairi groan a little and her eyes began opening, looking up at Yuri, "Are you okay?" he asked looking down at her. She weakly tried to wipe her eyes, still not fully understanding her position yet, "Mmmm, I'm hungry…. Guuuuuuuu" her tummy had rumbled loudly also to prove her point. Yuri chuckled a bit and was about to hand Kairi a Nia Fruit when he pulled it back, stared at it, and tossed it away making me a bit confused, he liked pranks and messing with people, why'd he stop?

"Hold on a sec. I can make something simple." Yuri said as he looked around in thought of where to set Kairi down, and not on the ground. "You can cook, Yuri?" Estelle asked surprised. "I'm not exactly a royal chef. I just have a few recipes I learned growing up." Ah I could taste the love already. As Kairi kept wiping her eyes she started gaining consciousness, "Uhhh what? Where?" Yuri looked down at her once more, "Kairi, sorry to ask, but can you sit up?" It took a few seconds but there it came, her red cheeks, her stuttering, "I-I'm sorry! I-I-I'll get up!" she sat up so fast Yuri had to catch her when she lost balance and fell right back, "Whoa! Take it easy. I just need you to sit up a while so I can make something for us to eat." Kairi stared at him confused yet flustered, "Huh? Grrrrruuuuuuuuu" She lowered her head in embarrassment as her tummy roared, Yuri let out a small laugh and she did her best to sit up as he began cooking some sandwiches.

"Aren't you worried at all that Flynn is in danger?" Estelle asked Yuri pouting a bit. "Huh? Does it look that way?" Yuri replied, "Well…yes." Estelle answered.

"Honestly, I'm not worried about him. He's always managed to take care of himself. Actually, it's the guys who are after him I feel sorry for." Yup cause Flynn's a big boy now!~ Oh lord I did not just sing that in my head…

"What do you mean?" Estelle asked, completely confused.

"Ever since we were kids, I've never been able to beat Flynn at anything. Swords, racing, whatever. After he'd won, he'd always have the nerve to say, 'You all right, Yuri?'" Ah, good old sibling rivalry, even though they weren't really siblings, they basically could be considered it. "That must be nice…I've never had anyone like that in my life" Estelle said sounding so sad, (Heh, not everyone can have a rival growing up Princess, not many people get that privilege, I certainly didn't either). "You can count yourself lucky" Yuri replied, ah Yuri, so in denial, you know you're lucky.

Kairi was watching Yuri intently make the food, trying to see how he made sandwiches (Honestly….it's just a sandwich….it's not that hard, I make all kinds of sandwiches at home). I began quietly humming 'Bohemian Rhapsody', it was hitting me not having my iPhone, iPod, or even just anyway to have my music with me. I looked over at Kairi who was now looking at me squirming with her lips shut tight, she must wanna sing along so bad, it's one of those songs you just NEED to sing. Estelle broke the tension, "Um, Liana, what are you humming?"

"I see a little silhouetto of a man~" no response from Kairi who was trembling at that, "Aww c'mon you're committing a crime here Kairi!" I devilishly grinned, I knew how to get her to join in.

"Now this is a story all about how,

My life got flipped-turned upside down,

And I'd like to take minute

Just sit right there"

"I'll tell you how I became the prince of town called Bel-Air" Kairi finally got out, her face turned pink. "Keep going, I sang most of that first verse," I told her and she complied probably feeling sad that she didn't do the Bohemian Rhapsody.

"In west Philadelphia born and raised,  
On the playground was where I spent most of my days,  
Chillin' out, maxin', relaxin' all cool,  
And all shooting some b-ball outside of the school"

My turn yay, "When a couple of guys who were up to no good,  
Started making trouble in my neighborhood,  
I got in one little fight and my mom got scared,  
She said, "You're movin' with your auntie and uncle in Bel-Air."

Before Kairi could continue we heard three words that made us stop, "Well, dinner's ready." Curse you Yuri Lowell. As we ate Estelle asked again, "What were you two sing- ummm Liana what are you doing?" I had the sandwich in the palm of my hand and used my other palm to begin squishing it flat, don't ask why, I just do it for some reason…that reason even I don't know. "You have something against my sandwiches?" Yuri asked and Kairi giggled and answered for me, "You've had that weird habit since you were little, there's nothing wrong with eating the bread as is." I gave her a sour look, "I know that, but…I just can't…I know it's weird…but it's like drilled into my being…any bread given to me and I just start squishing it like play-doh ever since I was very little, whether I'm conscious of it or not I can't eat bread without doing this first…" Kairi kept giggling at me while Yuri and Estelle exchanged odd looks, "Okay…"

"I was originally humming and tried singing the Bohemian Rhapsody, but Kairi didn't join in" I glared at her as she covered her face with her shawl, "I know, I'm going to hell aren't I?" I laughed a bit, "The one she caved into was the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. They're kinda popular Earth songs at least for those who speak English, not other languages…I think." Estelle could only nod her head with an 'Oh', I was arrogant I knew, but who cares, I'll sing what I want to sing and do what I want to do. Besides, if I didn't know the plot and heard her knowledge and stuff I'd be calling them arrogant, but I do know so it's not the same, though we are acting like we don't know. So yeah….Arrogance all around for the win!

I began eating my sandwich, oh my god this was good, Kairi was enjoying it as well, she wouldn't be doing that with the croquettes hehe. "Thank you for the meal," Estelle said to Yuri, boy she finished that fast. "It wasn't anything special," Yuri said, and Kairi's cheeks tinged pink. "I thought it was very tasty. I can't imagine being able to cook anything myself" Estelle said.

Oh tease time, "But if you don't know how to cook, how are you gonna snag a husband?" At that Estelle turned pink, her hands on her cheeks in embarrassment, "H-Husband? Me? I-I" ah this was fun, Kairi just kept giggling, "Oh don't even start Kairi, you can bake, but you burn regular food A LOT! How're you gonna snag a husband also?"

With that she puffed up her cheeks, "You can cook Liana, but you can't bake, so you're gonna have buy cakes and sweets for special occasions?" I turned pink, "I too can bake!" She stared at me dumbly, "You made a cake too runny one time."

"I-I-I just messed up on the recipe to that one!"

"And the cookies that tasted like unsalted eggs?" She raised a brow, "Or the-"

"GAH I GET IT! I GET IT! I CAN'T BAKE! BUT YOU CAN'T COOK! SO STAY AWAY FROM THE KITCHEN UNLESS IT'S FOR SWEETS KAIRI!"

"YOU TOO LIANA! YOU CAN COOK THE MEALS, BUT DO NOT EVER BAKE YOU HEAR ME!"

"DEAL!" We both shouted in unison earning weirded out looks from Yuri and Estelle.

"You gotta learn, by doing it though," Yuri said, "You all will be cooking in no time, so don't worry about it."

"IF SHE COOKS/BAKES I'M NOT EATTING IT UNTIL YOU ALL DEEM IT SAFE!" Kairi and I shouted at Yuri who shrunk away a bit, Kairi quickly returning to normal, blushing and apologizing frantically for shouting at Yuri. "Thanks for the food, Yuri" I wasn't stuffed, but I'd have to get use to that, hurray for eventual weight loss! ...Hopefully... Kairi thanked Yuri as well as she kept apologizing.

Repede got up signaling us to keep on going, "What is it, Repede?" Yuri asked and got silent for a while as if telepathically communicating with Repede. "Well, shall we be going?" We all got up and began leaving, I wonder where Karol was hiding.

* * *

-*- Thanking Repede -*-

Estelle: Repede, when I passed out, you laid down and made the nicest pillow for me. Thank you very much!

Yuri: … What are you doing?

Estelle: I'm…um, thanking Repede…

Yuri: Repede? He's not here…I think he went to Kairi.

Estelle: Huh? Wh-what? … Maybe he doesn't like me.

Yuri: Nah, he acts like that with just about everybody.

Estelle: But he seems to like Kairi though…

Yuri: Yeah…Still can't figure that one out.

Estelle: Well then, I'll just have to keep trying until he accepts me!

* * *

Kairi winced as we faced a few monsters that it interrupted her casting. I managed to punch the Bee that was flying towards her with my knuckles, it's guts splattering everywhere making me back up to avoid being coated, "Ugghhh, bugs are so icky!" (I really need more practice with channeling aer to these things…) Spotting what happened as he took out another Bee Yuri shouted, "Kairi, stand down and let us handle them!" She looked up surprised, but obeyed and watched us fight with disappointment on her face.

Once the Bees were taken care of Yuri said something to Estelle as she ran over to Kairi healing her hands, "I said you need to not use your hands so much, you grab your staff way too hard, you'll have to stand back from fighting for a day or two or the pain will get worse." Kairi looked startled but nodded, "Okay…" she looked at the ground for a bit until her eyes opened a little more and closed, cheeks turned pink, and she had a soft smile on her face. We continued on until, "Grrr…" Repede crouched down and growled.

"Hmm?" Yuri took note of the rustling bushes but didn't ready himself, must be leaving it up to Repede since Repede seems poised to pounce. "P-Prepare to die, eggbear!" Aww there's our baby boy~.

* * *

So I got to Karol, but not too far yay! And there's Justin!

Justin: About time~

Caryn: WHY DO YOU SHOW UP EARLIER THAN ME?! *pouts*

Cause you're the star! We'll be getting to you….it's just going to be a while…though thanks for leaving me all the work Justin….

Justin: Hey I seriously thought about that side quest so don't sass me! With the way you are there won't be enough Gald to pay that lady! Oh, and I'm saving for Yumanju too~ Remind me when you get there too so I can get a free permanent pass, I'll pitch in what I can for the 300k and 600k gald needed, for the both visits~

You lazy son of a bitch…though how're you gonna get that much gald in time for the quest AND Yumanju?

Justin: Well if I recall in the game, Nam Cobanda is getting sponsored and shit by Fortune's Market, right, doing some poker and buying goods with the chips to sell repeatedly brings some very good money ya know~.

Oh right…DAMN NOW I WISH IT WAS OPEN SO I COULD GAMBLE TO GET MONEY!

Caryn: …What about me? ;W; I wanna go to Yumanju too…

Fine fine I'll call you both, I promise…if we can…I mean how does it work with you guys being in separate ways from our group…?

Caryn and Justin: … DANG IT!

Translations for Japanese spoken:

Kairi, mou nakanaide. Yuri wa daijoubu da yo = Kairi, please don't cry anymore. Yuri is fine.

Honto ni? = Really?

Sou, kono otoko wa kizu ga nai deshou = Yeah, that guy doesn't have a scratch.

Next time: Halure and the Eggbear, can we restore the barrier before I end the chapter…I dunno I suck at fight scenes XD


	8. 7: The City of Blossoms? Not Quite

Sorry for a late delay I've been SUPER sick, can't afford a doctor either since we spent a good chunk of our money on fixing the air conditioner. Though despite being sick, my mother, who is visiting, wants my entire room cleaned….yeah my room is gonna take like a weeks' worth of working on, especially with a fever.

Somethings said in skits may refer to the code drabbles, but I'm trying my best not to have a drabble per chapter. Also italics are for telepathic communications and parenthesis hold thoughts, *s are for actions in skits; though if you've read previous chapters you get that by now lolz

I do NOT own Tales of Vesperia, Caryn, or Justin!

I DO HAVE permission to use Caryn and Justin.

I DO own myself, Kairi, and my work in this fiction.

* * *

Karol had hopped out of the bushes and swung his sword, or was the sword swinging him, I wonder, "Whoa!" Either way, Karol was out of control and Kairi and I couldn't help but smile at how cute he could be; that and his voice actor is Emil's voice from Nier, hey, Emil is precious okay.

Yuri was also smiling with amusement until he walked up to Karol, drew his sword, and sliced through Karol's sword. "Waaaaah! OOF!" and there went Karol, rolling backwards, "Ooh, man, that hurt…" As Karol got up, Repede trotted over startling him, "Gyaah!" and now he was playing dead, "I-I'm warning you! I don't taste very good. You'll get the runs!" Repede seemed to respond to his warning with a bark, "Woof!"

"Oh my gosh, s-s-somebody h-h-help me-! Aaaaah!" Karol was freaking out over Repede, you'd think he'd realize Repede is just a dog by now. "Is this kid for real?" Yuri asked still amused, "He's so precious," I replied making Yuri give me funny look. "It's all right now." Estelle said softly as she walked up to Karol trying to calm him down. "Huh? The monster turned into a girl?" I tried my best not to laugh, but when he crawled back a bit seeing Repede I had to giggle. "Oh, brother. This should be interesting." Yuri had that hilarious amused look on his face and I let out a bit of laughter as Kairi went over to Karol to calm him as well.

"I'm Karol Capel! I'm a member of the Hunting Blades guild. We travel the globe in search of the toughest monsters." He was just so happy to say he was in a guild, too bad they were gonna fire him eventually, but he'll be just the boss Brave Vesperia needs.

"I'm Yuri. This is Estelle and Kairi. That's Liana, and you've met Repede already. Anyway, nice to meet you." And with a turn, Yuri was walking off. "What? Yuri, wait!" Estelle was shocked to say the least, but she knew she had to follow Yuri, "My apologies" she bowed and took off after Yuri, Kairi and me following but slowly.

"Huh? …Hey, wait up! Where are you guys going?" Karol said stomping his feet before running ahead to get in front of us, "You guys are here to enter the woods, right? Well then I'll…" ah, he wants to guard us back through to show he's a big boy, so precious~

"Actually, we've just finished coming through the woods, and we're on our way to Halure" Estelle filled him in. "No way! You guys made it through the cursed woods? Did you guys run into any eggbears?" If we had, we'd be a lot worse for wear than we are now. "Do you know what he's talking about, Yuri?" Estelle asked, Yuri was still looking amused at Karol, "Nope. I don't think we've seen any."

With a hang of his head, Karol spoke his thoughts aloud but quietly, "Man…Wonder if I should head back to town then…They definitely won't like it if I keep them waiting…All right! I'm not sure four would make it on your own, but never fear. The star member of the Hunting Blades will be your escort. See that? I've even got my own blastia." He showed off his bag with his blastia, ah, he was trying so hard to want to be needed.

Karol soon took note of Estelle and Yuri's blastia, "What? You guys both have one, too? O-oh yeah? Well how'dya like this?!" He held up the monster book and Yuri and Estelle looked at it, "It has information about monsters. Hm? After a certain point, all the pages are blank" and Estelle wasn't impressed. "Th-That's 'cause I'm gonna fill it up with piles of monsters after this." Yuri began writing in some things and Karol stomped his feet again, "Hey, wait! Who said you could just write in there?!"

This moment, Yuri was being like a teasy older brother with Karol, "It might hurt your 'star member' status if it got out that you broke your sword." Karol soon returned to star mode, "Oh, that? I had to give myself some kinda handicap, or else it wouldn't have been a fair fight." Swinging his sword a bit he realized it was much easier to use now, "Hey, that's actually not too bad."

Once again Yuri walked off, all of us following, "Yo! Do you guys even know where you're going? Halure's to the north once you get out of the woods. Come on guys! Wait for me!" chasing after us, Karol has joined our party.

* * *

-*- Even Dogs Have Pride -*-

Karol: I don't understand Repede. He's a dog, with claws and fangs, but he uses weapons…?

Liana: Got a problem with his bad assery?

Repede: Grr…Woof.

Yuri: Yeah, I guess dogs do usually fight with claws and fangs.

Karol: *wide eyed and confused*

Estelle: *confused* Huh? But Repede's a dog, isn't he?

Kairi: Does he look like a parrot or bunny?

Repede: Woof Woof!

Yuri: Repede is Repede.

Karol: …What does that mean?

Liana: It means what it means, I mean you are Karol right? Or should I call you Emil?

Karol: Huh? Of course my name's Karol, why would you want to call me Emil?

Repede: Woof Woof! WOOF!

Yuri: Whatever he is, Repede doesn't think of himself as a dog. That's why he uses weapons and items. But that's not to say that he thinks of himself as human, either.

Estelle: …I don't really understand…But he seems very proud.

Repede: WOOF!

Yuri: Yep! So show him some respect!

Karol: …Hey, Yuri. Are you translating what Repede's saying?

Yuri: Nah, it's just your imagination.

Liana: *making rainbow with hands Sponge Bob style at imagination*

* * *

-*- Who Is This Karol Kid? -*-

Yuri: This Karol guy is kind of weird.

Estelle: He does seem a bit restless, but that doesn't make him a bad person.

Yuri: He doesn't seem evil, but I'll bet he's got some weird thoughts going on in his head.

Liana: Just like me~

Yuri: !

Estelle: You're only saying that because you can see some of yourself in him.

Yuri: ! You think the two of us are alike?

Estelle: Yes. It's like you have genuine emotions, but your pride won't let you show them. So I can't bring myself to dislike him.

Yuri: *pouting* Huh…

Estelle: Did I upset you?

Yuri: No, that's just some pretty deep insight about people you only just met, is all.

Estelle: *angry* Hey…

* * *

After fighting some Bees, Axe Beaks, and Chirpees without Kairi (Sounds almost like Slurpee's and I want one now so badly) we arrived in Halure. I frowned big time, the tree just looked so…bad, I felt like if we didn't hurry it could just fall over with someone shouting, 'Timber!' Kairi seemed to be thinking so to, her eyes just never leaving the tree as if the next second it might not be there.

"Halure…The 'City of Blossoms'," Estelle said sadly, probably feeling upset at its current state as well. "Yeah, that's right," Karol said proudly, as Yuri stared up and around, "Don't they have a barrier here?" That caught Estelle's attention immediately and she looked up also, "Yes, there should be…"

"You guys haven't been to Halure before, right?" Karol asked, we all turned to him and nodded, "So then you haven't heard about the tree barrier." Yuri looked confused and shocked in one, "Tree barrier?"

"Some blastia fuse to plant life, gain organic qualities and evolve. The tree barrier of Halure is one primer example of this. I read that in a book." It always stunned me how Estelle could remember things word for word, I normally adapted any information I'd learn into my own wording simple because it made more sense than straight from a book definition reciting. "Well thank you, professor. So what's happened to this famous barrier?" Yuri said lookin up at the tree again. Tales of Vesperia is what happened to the tree of Halure Yuri.

Yuri walked up when he notice the injured townsfolk crowded up ahead, "Doesn't look like it's doing much right now." "Every year, just before the blossoms are in full bloom, the barrier weakens for a while. It's just that time of year right now, and the monsters took the opportunity to attack…" Karol answered.

Yuri's focus was now back on the little guild boy, "Is that when the barrier went down?" Karol turned away, "Yeah, the monsters were taken care of, but the tree is slowly starting to decay." I had to wonder…in the intro Flynn's knights had handled the monsters….but Karol was in Quoi woods and Clint and Tison were in Deidon Hold, were they at Halure originally to handle the monsters? And if so, why leave for Deidon Hold, and why were Flynn's knights the ones to handle them? I know they're not Flynn's, but he's in their brigade…Ah I'm overthinking again.

"Hey!" Karol shouted as a girl with clothes the same color as Nan ran passed. "W-What is it?" Estelle asked Karol as his focus was on the run away girl, "Sorry, I've gotta run! Bye!" And with that Karol left us.

"Does that kid ever sit still?" Yuri said just as Estelle took notice of the injured people. "He's a kid, what were you expecting, Yuri?" Kairi said, I simple threw out my arms in false drama, "Come back. I thought we were friends. I thought we were friends. Noooooo." Yuri just stared at me oddly before sighing, "So I guess you'll be looking for Flynn now, huh, Estelle?" he turned to see the princess not where she was standing but over with the injured healing their wounds.

"Doesn't she know we need to keep a low profile? And what happened to looking for Flynn?" Yuri asked. (I seriously had to wonder when I played this game the 2nd time and so forth with other games if Flynn was even TRULY her number one priority compared to just being free from the castle…). We walked a bit closer to the crowd, "Might I help heal your wounds?" Estelle asked a crying woman with her severely injured husband in her arms. (Ah hearing this I just wanted to say 'Estelle you can heal wounds, but not the heart' though I'll let her because that guy looks like a pile of crap right now….wow this town got hit hard…)

Kairi gave me a look and we both wondered, Estelle's powers activate the aer krene to pump out more aer…with all the healing she does in the game, how is it that dooms day never approached faster than Alexei could break Brave Vesperia's barrier? I had to assume Brave Vesperia was insanely powerful, but if things mess up….how bad would it be if the aer became too much for the Entelexeia and the Adephagos came earlier than intended?...

With that Kairi walked up with her healing wand, "Can I help as well?" The village mayor turned to both of them, "Oh my, you both can use healing artes? Why, that would be excellent! …But I'm afraid we don't have very much money…" (I have to wonder, was it the taxes that's bad here or did these poor people had to pool money together to pay the knights? I know Flynn is a good guy, but just thinking that these poor people may have had to pay just to receive protection despite being on imperial soil just rubbed me the wrong way. Though what could I expect, it's an EMPIRE not a KINGDOM…there's a difference…).

Estelle waved her hand, "No no, we don't need any money." And with that the two began healing though my brain began turning, we use aer for our magic and other things instead of mana right now….would using it be bad? Though considering how much we fought on our way to Quoi woods and Judy hasn't shown up must mean it's not a large amount of aer we use, so I guess…it's okay….right?...though all blastia are terrible since they use aer…so eventually once this is all over, there can be no more magic from us if we still end up stuck here after Duke's defeat…oh wait of course we can probably still use mana…but that would be consuming from the planet, still….ugh SO COMPLEX! BRAIN STOP THINKING!

Estelle stared in awe as Kairi healed 6 people at once when she just finished up with one. (Hey sorry princess, she has party healing, you'll learn nurse which is like a party heal soon enough…eventually…till then enjoy being one upped) I couldn't help but smugly smile as Yuri put his hands on his chin and looked in thought at the two girls (Must be thinking about Estelle's powers).

"How can we ever thank you?" the mayor said bowing the Estelle and Kairi. Estelle's hands flew to her cheeks in embarrassment, "No, really, think nothing of it." (Oh my god….now that I look at her doing that so much with her pinkness and pink hair…I'm seeing Amy Rose when she blabs about Sonic…) "It's fine, we don't need anything," Kairi responded. "What humble young ladies. I wish the Imperial Knights could follow your example," the mayor said to us sadly, (Didn't Flynn just save you from being entirely murdered by the monsters? It might not have been enough, but at least he tried…)

"Not a chance! The Knights refuse to lift a finger to protect us from the monsters!" The wife of the first injured man shouted. "Well, I guess the empire couldn't care less what happens to us here," the mayor followed, HUH?! (Seriously, did Flynn not SAVE YOUR ASSES?! I KNOW ALEXEI IS A DICK, BUT FLYNN WAS JUST THERE! HE LEFT TO GET A MAGE! HE HASN'T ABANDONED HALURE YET!) I felt myself becoming more irritated at their speech, Estelle was also obviously uncomfortable, "No…T-That's not true…" (Sorry princess, but since you've been locked in a castle refusing to even try to get out, plus you and Ioder are candidates only, and your whole ascend to the throne is based on a physical object that happens to be in Duke's possession….your land is screwed until one of you gets up off your ass and does something…and hopefully it's Ioder…)

"Ah, but that one knight sure was different, wasn't he?" The wife said. (Make up your damn mind woman!) "Yes, that young man. If not for him, we would have all been lost. The barrier weakened earlier than usual this year, and we were attacked before the guild could come protect us. There was a knight who happened to be passing through our town on a pilgrimage. He and his brigade drove off all the monsters." (Ah, completely forgot the mayor could answer most of my former questions. I feel ashamed to call myself a junkie…but then again I hardly care much for side characters, it's the main game I can recall perfectly). Boy didn't that catch Estelle's attention, "A knight on a pilgrimage…"

"Was this knight named Flynn, by any chance?" Yuri asked the mayor. "Yes, his name was Flynn Scifo" the wife said almost dreamily. (My god woman, you've got a husband, be satisfied!) Estelle heard the woman and quickly ran up to the mayor, "Is he still in the city?!" (Wow….For a moment I thought I was watching a jealous Amy Rose running up to ask where Sonic was to get him on a date…omg and Flynn is so BLUE...lolz my stupid brain) "No, he left the village afterwards in search of a mage who could fix the barrier" the mayor answered her, and she just pouted.

"Do you know where he went?" Yuri asked. The mayor shook his head, "It looked like he was headed east, but beyond that I couldn't tell you…" Estelle looked pretty bummed that her boy toy isn't here, "I see. So we can wait here, and Flynn will come to us." Yuri looked indifferent, but I could tell what he was thinking, if we wait for Flynn here, Flynn will most likely argue and arrest Yuri for his jailbreak when he learns of it, the blastia core would be lost forever, and Vesperia will have never happened…well he wasn't thinking that last part as I was.

"Looks like we've caught up with him. Don't you feel better now?" Yuri asked Estelle who still looked upset a bit. "Yes…I won't be able to relax until I see him, but I guess I feel better," Estelle said before slapping her face to her hands and taking that daydreaming look again. I was getting weirded out by the minute, she was like some lovesick teenager or a restless succubus who needs the D…both creeped me out.

Yuri then turned to Kairi who was gazing up at the tree still and moved his gaze to me and Estelle as he spoke, "I think I'll go have a look at this famous tree. Wanna come with?" I shot my hand up, "I'm game!" Kairi smiled softly, her cheeks a tinge pink, "Uh Y-Yes I'll go." Estelle popped out of her gaze, "Ah, Yes! Yuri, you don't mind? You're okay not going after the blastia core thief?" He turned to Estelle, "I can spare enough time to look at a tree, at least" and with that he began walking up the hill, until Kairi and I headed towards the bridge where Karol was. Yuri then raised an eyebrow but followed behind us after Estelle. Estelle of course slowly walking while daydreaming, seriously someone give me a yardstick so I can keep my distance from her.

"*sigh* I had the wrong person…And none of the others from the guild are here, either…I kept her waiting so long. She must've gotten mad and left…I wanted to show her Halure's flowers in full bloom…Then maybe…" Karol was talking to himself as he sat on the bridge, his hands on his knees. "Karol, what's the matter?" Estelle asked after confirming he wasn't speaking to no one else. "Where'd she go? Is she really gone? I'm doing the best I can…" Karol continued completely ignoring us. "Karol?" Estelle tried again, but to no avail, "I think he's broken" I said. "Let's give him some time alone" Yuri suggested, Kairi and I nodded. "It's over, it's over. It's all over, it's really over. Everything, everything is over…" Karol said as he drew up his knees and rested his head in his knees. (Technically….it's not until Caer Bocram when you get fired…)

Yuri turned and began leaving until he stopped to look at the kids, "Yeah! We got weapons now! We're gonna beat those monsters! The mayor's gonna let us fight now!" "Let's beat up those monsters, just like Flynn!" "Yeah!" the children shouted in unison and ran off before Kairi or I could shout at them to not be so reckless.

"Even those kids are trying to fight…I hope the barrier is restored soon" Estelle said. "Me too" Yuri threw in. "They're still so young…they shouldn't have to or even try to…" I put a hand on Kairi's shoulders and gave her a determined look, _'If we want those kids to be safe, we need to get the tree up FAST!'_ She nodded and we both noticed Yuri and Estelle heading up the hill without us…again… (Again he's ditching us, sheesh can't you wait for 1 second?!) Kairi and I both ran to catch up and join them at the tree.

* * *

"It's huge up close" Yuri said in awe at the tree we were in front of. (That's what she said…couldn't help it, I'm so immature for my age…but I love being me~) "The tree's flowers should blossom any day now" Estelle said. "Yeah, I wish I could see it in bloom" Yuri replied while Kairi and I nodded. "I know how you feel. There's something about the image of a tall tree vibrant with blossoms and protecting the city that's so…romantic" Estelle said dreamily (Reminds me of Konohana protecting Kamiki village in Okami~).

"I don't think Yuri's feelings are that it's romantic so much as it would be just beautiful and awe-inspiring," I responded, Estelle turning her attention to me. "Huh?" I smiled and smirked evilly at her, "We're both presuming and assuming his feelings, but I bet 100 Sayaka that he's 99.9% closet romantic, he doesn't ever let it show unless he's all alone with no one to see him!"

Yuri just sweat dropped, "So then can you stop presuming and trying to read me like I'm not here then?" Kairi pouted at me, "Liana, you know what they say about assuming!" I bonked my head lightly with my fist and stuck my tongue out with a wink, "Hehe sorry." Estelle apologized for presuming on Yuri's feelings as well and Yuri could only sigh in defeat.

"You know, I'm going to stay here and help heal the injured," Estelle spoke up. Yuri looked in thought for a while, "Hmm, if you're going to heal something, maybe you could heal the barrier itself?" Damn, Yuri was a ninja with figuring things out, made we wonder how he got to be so ninja like. "What do you mean?" Estelle asked confused. "When the monsters come again, more people are gonna get hurt. Those kids we just saw could be among them," Yuri spoke up. Kairi gripped her hands tight at the thought, and began to fidget a little.

"That's true, but I have no idea how I could heal the barrier," Estelle said. Yuri looked back up at the tree, "What you need to heal is this tree. It wouldn't be in this condition just because some monster's attacked it" and he walked closer examining the trunk a bit more. (Reminds me…just what was it that caused the tree to wither? Was it the monster's blood like Karol said…or something else?)

"You think there's some other reason?" Estelle asked Yuri. Yuri turned right around, "I think there's gotta be." Yup Yuri is a ninja, I better watch myself with not letting anything slip or acting suspicious towards events, or else things can go south pretty fast. "What are the four of you doing over here?" the mayor asked us as he walked over (probably was thinking we were causing trouble or something…).

"We're trying to figure out why the tree has withered like this," Estelle answered the man. "I don't know if you'll make much progress on that one. The knight Flynn couldn't figure out the reason either," the mayor replied sadly. A certain fluffy mess of hair began walking up trying to pass us and a lightbulb went off in Estelle's head, "Oh, Karol! Karol, we need your help!" His head was hung low and he passed us a bit…huh? He's supposed to stop and tell us about the monster blood poisoning the tree!

I began to panic as he kept walking, my brain shouted to just scream anything to get his attention, "HEY KAROL! EMIL! O SAVIOR OF US ALL! FOOFY HAIRED MIDGET! WE NEED YOUR HELP!" At foofy haired midget he turned around still depressed, I had to hold back a snicker that he responded to that one, "…What are you talking about?" Karol walked back slowly to join in the conversation, "It seems these four are trying to figure out the reason that tree's withered so" the mayor chimed in.

"Oh, is that all?" Karol said, his head dropping again (My god someone get this kid a snickers bar!). Estelle tilted her head at his comment, "What do you mean, 'is that all?'" He nodded, "I know the reason. It's why I was in the forest looking for the eggbear…" Yuri was now getting curious too, "Huh? What are you talking about?" I gave Yuri a 'were you not listening look' before sighing. "Look closely at the ground. Notice the strange color? That color is where the ground absorbed the blood of monsters who attacked the town. That blood has been poisoning Halure's tree" Karol said, and we were checking the ground. I then had a thought, (…monsters had attacked the town…their blood poisoned the tree but who is to say it wasn't only monster blood that poisoned the tree…people got hurt, heck some people probably got killed….their blood could be there as well...) I felt myself shiver with the idea and Kairi looked at me oddly, probably wondering what I was thinking…

"What! The monster blood? I had no idea…" the mayor said with disbelief and shock that their beloved tree was being poisoned. "Karol, you really know your stuff, don't you?" Estelle praised him. Heck even Yuri looked too stunned for words, I felt teasy too, "Great job there pal!" Kairi could only smile and giggle as Karol began squirming and rubbing his head at all the praise he was receiving, "It was nothing…" And there he was depressed again….ah, it'll be a while until he matures up and when he does…I guess that motherly instinct I have is gonna hurt and be proud to let him fly. "Is there anything we can do to get rid of the poison?" Yuri asked, I mean if Karol knew the reason why the tree was decaying, he'd surely have the cure, although the cure was with Estelle's power possibly reacting and creating a spirit I think…it had to be because of that side quest with the ghost like light talking to everyone…and the story she told was a love story…I had to wonder…at that moment, did she create Verius from the Apatheia used to make the barrier blastia…questions questions….

"I know a way, but…well, no one believes me" Karol said, his head dropping lower. Yuri looked over at me and Kairi for a bit before walking up to Karol, kneeling down to be eye level with him, "Come on, try us." He was probably thinking about how he had a hard time believing we were aliens, he could afford to listen to Karol's solution. "I think we'd be able to do it if we had a panacea bottle," Karol said, though he neglected to mention to us, "Maybe we can get one in the General Store," that the store had none. "Let's go, Yuri!" Estelle shouted before running off, making us all walk after her.

* * *

-*- The Tree of Halure -*-

Estelle: I can't wait until the tree's blossoms are in full bloom. They'll be fantastic…

Yuri: I bet there's a flood of petals big enough to just sweep you away.

Estelle: All those petals dancing in the breeze…It'd be like a dream…

Yuri: I wonder how they deal with all their houses getting buried in flowers every year. That's gotta be a pain to clean up.

Estelle: *pouty*…You really take the fun out of things, Yuri.

Liana: I told you he's not a romantic, but he's a closet one.

Yuri: Are you still on about that?

Liana: Shun the nonromantic! Shuuuunnnn!

Kairi: Shuuunnn.

Yuri: ! Kairi you too?!

Kairi: …*face turns red*…

* * *

-*- Denebola inn -*-

Liana: Ah, I can't wait until we can relax in an inn rather than camping, but we gotta be frugal to start.

Kairi: Yeah, we've only gotten so much gald.

Liana: And I need to buy and synthesize weapons to help get them good skills! And….*stares dumbly at the inn sign*

Kairi: What's wrong?

Liana: This place I remember is called Denebola….

Kairi: And?

Liana: It's Den and Ebola….it's a Den of Ebola…..

Kairi: ….Liana, it's just an inn….

Liana: …But just in case….lets be careful in there, wash your hands all the time and don't touch anything directly!

Kairi: *sigh*

Liana: Or….I can say it sounds like Devola~ *hums Song of the Ancients*

Kairi: ! She cheered up fast…

* * *

"Howdy, welcome to the store! What can I get for you today?" The man running the shop cheerfully asked us. "Do you have any panacea bottles?" Yuri asked. The shop keeper's face fell, "Unfortunately we're sold out at the moment." Estelle became depressed now, "But how can that be…?" (Hmm, now that I think about it, who else might need panacea bottles to make the shop sell out…could it have Flynn or the Hunting Blades that bought out all the panacea bottles? Huh?) "But you know, if I had the right ingredients, I'd be able to fix some up for you" the shop keeper said. "What would you need to make it?" and here it comes… "I'd need three ingredients: 'eggbear claw', 'nia fruit', and 'luluria petal'. But why do you need a panacea bottle so badly? A kid came by the other day asking about the same exact thing," the shop keeper informed us.

"We want to heal Halure's tree" Estelle replied. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted Karol dart behind a giant lamp peeping on us. "What's that? I've never heard of using a panacea bottle on a tree before…" Noticing my attention to the giant lamp Yuri turned his head to peak on Karol from the corner of his eye as well, "Hmmm, yeah…" Estelle looked a bit confused, "What sort of thing s this 'nia fruit' you mentioned?" Yuri turned to Estelle with an amused look, "That would be that bitter fruit you said was so delicious back in the woods." Estelle then turned to the shop keeper, "So what's an eggbear, then?" The shopkeeper shook his head, "Sorry, I can't help you there. Monsters are beyond my expertise. If a member of the Hunting Blades were here they might be able to tell you. They make their living hunting monsters. "

Yuri turned to the lamp, "So that's why he was in the forest…" Estelle continued to press for information, "What can you tell us about the luluria petal?" The shop keeper looked to Estelle and answered, "You know the tree in the middle of town, right? It's a petal from that tree. Normally we use magic resin but there isn't any around these parts at all." Estelle became depressed at that news, "But the tree is all withered…" The shop keeper began to panic a bit but gave us our answer, "I believe the mayor has some luluria petals. You might try asking him." Yuri began turning away, seems like we were all set, "Gotcha. We'll come back when we've gotten the ingredients together." Hearing him say that made him sound like we were gathering stuff for pot luck or stew.

As we passed by the lamp that Karol was just pretending to stare at some grass Yuri was about to start with one of my favorite moments **EVER** , "Come on Karol, we're going back to the Quoi Woods." Karol turned to Yuri a bit confused, "What do you mean?" Oh boy here it comes~! "Remember? 'Prepare to die, eggbear!'" My cheeks puffed up with air from holding in that laughter, Kairi just burst causing me to lose it. "AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA OH LORDY! MY SIDES! SWEET SISTER FRANCIS! SOMEONE HELP! AHAHAHAHA!" I rolled on the grass earning many awkward stares, Kairi just clutched to the lamp as she covered her mouth in laugher, "HAHAHAHA MOU! AHAHAHA IYA! HAHAHAHAHA KUDARANAI AHAHAHA!" Yuri just looked at us in shock, "It wasn't that bad was it?" I merely pointed at him and laughed out, "AHAHHAHAHAHHAHAAHA YURI MAJI MEGAMI! AHAHAHAHA!" I could have sworn I saw his face turn red, but I began rolling around again and kicking my feet rapidly to completely notice.

After Kairi and I settled down, I wiped my eyes of tears one last time, "So we ready to get this show on the road then Karol?" He looked at us in shock, but then it turned to suspicion a bit, "You mean you believe what I said about the panacea bottle?" Yuri turned to Karol, "Were you lying?" Karol shook his head rapid, his hair swishing a bit, just how did he get it so fluffy? "Well then, we'll have to go with what you've told us" Yuri told him, ah big brother moments with these two are so cute~ "Yuri…All right, I'll help you out just this once. I'm a very busy person, you know." There's the original Karol, and he didn't even need a snickers bar. "It settled then! The five of us will restore the barrier together" Estelle said. I cleared my throat, "Ahem, I think you mean six." She looked over at me confused, "Huh?" A whine could be heard and Kairi began scratching Repede's ears, "Repede makes 6." Estelle covered her mouth, "Oh right, Repede as well!" Repede merely yawned, clearly he doesn't care too much for it hehe. "You girls are coming?" Karol asked us, but his main focus was on Estelle.

"Well, of course I am" Estelle said as a matter of factly. "What about waiting for Flynn?" Yuri asked her. "Wasn't it you who said 'if you're going to heal something it should be the tree'?" She got you there Yuri, I nudged him, "In other words, it's your fault Yuri." He gave me a defeated look before looking ahead, "We'll just have to fix the tree before he gets back. Can't wait to see the look on his face." Mhm, Yuri was now looking at this as a way to one up Flynn now, yup he'll be giving it 100%. We all headed towards the entrance of town about to leave, I turned to look at the mayor's house to see he wasn't outside…how odd…guess we gotta get the nia fruit and eggbear claw first.

* * *

-*- Maps -*-

Karol: Estelle, what are you looking at?

Estelle: It's a map of the area around here.

Karol: Ooh, let me see…Hey, this is almost completely blank! You can't call this a map!

Estelle: Really?

Karol: You should try a surveyors' guild, like the 'World's Cellar'! Their maps are really amazing! All the top guild members have one.

Liana: … (It sound like he's trying to sell us a map with his words…sell us stuff…!)

Yuri: So then, naturally you've got a copy, right, Karol? Let's see it!

Karol: Uhhh, well, y'see…Once you get as good as I am, you don't need to use a map anymore!

Estelle: Oh, that's too bad. I really wanted to see it.

Liana: *singing Emil's song from Nier Automata quietly to self* Every day's a sale~ Every sale's a win~ *hum*

* * *

As we entered into the woods once more Karol turned to us, "Hey, I've been wondering…How come you two – and Repede too, I guess – have blastia, but you two don't? I mean, I can probably understand why you two don't have a blastia, but… aren't bohdi blastia pretty rare? I didn't think many people had them." It seems our baby boy here was curious why we were travelling together, with 2 people no blastia and the others with blastia. "You have one too, though," Yuri brought up, possibly trying to end the subject before it could seriously involve us. "I belong to a guild. Sometimes we get a chance to get one. And Ruin's Gate keeps finding more. That's a guild that excavates blastia." Yuri was pretty stunned at that information, "Huh, there are even guilds that dig up blastia from ruins?" Karol nodded, "If there weren't, then the empire would control all the blastia. Normal folks wouldn't get any."

"'The empire regulates the ancient blastia artifacts due to their potential danger.' I think that makes sense. If blastia weren't regulated, anyone could use dangerous magic" Estelle said proudly. I had to frown, she was just too damn naïve… "But they've gone way overboard. They have a monopoly" Yuri stated. "Well what do you expect? It's an empire, not a kingdom, hearing that is just about what I'd expect," I stood up. Yuri looked a bit puzzled, "Really? There's a difference?" I nodded, "Mhm, BIG TIME difference. The only similarity is that both do have monopolies but their difference depending on the ruler is HUGE. **Empires** like to dominate and use their monopolies for wealth for weapons and armies, weapons, and land for conquering. **Kingdoms** like to expand and try to negotiate, buy, and trade to gain more land, unless you got a ruler that would prefer war to obtain new lands," I said seriously, at least that's what I've learned growing up, I'm no good in history, but that's what it's always seemed like to me. Estelle's head lowered down and she looked uneasy, "Uh, I don't know about…" I rolled my eyes, she was so damn naïve, it'd do her some good to learn more about the potential darkness of the world so if or when it happens she won't be blindsided or absolutely shocked. Yuri looked over at Estelle before walking on up ahead besides us and Karol.

"So anyway, what's your story? How'd you get yours?" Karol asked Yuri, his eyes curious, he really wanted to know. "I use to be in the Imperial Knights. This was a going-away present. Repede got his as a keepsake of his old owner," Yuri said a pinch nervously. Kairi and I looked away a bit (Going-away present huh…). "A going-away present? Sounds more like you stole it to me" Karol said. We both knew how he got that blastia…Niren…I wouldn't presume to say he was like a father to Yuri…but for Yuri who had been under his command and care for 3 months…I'd have to believe that Yuri saw him as father-like or at least someone very dear…and to lose him like that…I couldn't fathom it…I'd never lost my parents, closets pain I could relate was my grandparent's deaths… "…So, what about you, Estelle?" Karol was now asking Estelle who was still down from me and Yuri bashing on the empire (Oh boo hoo sweetie, get over the truth and move on).

"Uh, I got mine from, uh…" she was now alert again and finding it hard to answer Karol's question. "Look at her. She's a noble. They all have these." Yuri stated trying to help her out despite the look on his face not completely supporting it. "I knew you were a noble! Well, at least one of you has some class," Karol said excitedly. I put his head between my fists in a noogie, "Oh, so me and Kairi don't count here? Is that what you're saying you foofy haired midget?" He panicked and began shouting for Yuri to help him, "Oh no, you're not getting away with that, you just made Kairi deflate, and I'm a lot older than you, so show some respect." I wasn't kidding, Kairi was in front of a tree completely deflated at being told she had no class compared to Estelle…it had to be our laugh fest that did it I bet. (Not that Estelle has anything on her) I sneered, Estelle may be the mother fucking princess, but over there is the child of a god, top that pinky!…Albeit she's easily….no VERY easily…deflated…and brought down…I lost my sneer and sighed big time, Kairi'd be so much better if she'd show a bit more pride in being a god's child…

After Karol took it back and apologized to Kairi, Yuri spoke up, "Yeah, yeah. Let's go get that nia fruit." And with that we followed behind out fearless leader back into the Quoi Woods, I felt a bit nervous about the blastia we encountered, but I remembered Duke had possibly already silenced it by now with Dein Nomos.

We found the area we rested in and Yuri picked up the nia fruit he had tossed aside and the fruit Estelle left behind, good thing he didn't let Kairi eat it, I think we need a whole nia fruit not a bitten one for synthesis. "Next up is the eggbear claw," Karol said. "Are we going to walk around the woods and look for an eggbear?" Estelle asked confused. Karol shook his head, "No, we'll never find one that way." Yuri turned to him, "Yeah? What'll we do then?" Oh boy I knew what was coming next…Kairi looked at me worriedly and the both of us slowly began to back up. "Hand me the bitten nia fruit, would you? I'm going to use it to lure out the eggbear. The eggbear has very unusual tastes, you see," Karol said proudly.

Yuri tossed Karol the fruit and quickly Karol began working on breaking it open. Me and Kairi kept backing up, Estelle covered her nose a bit with getting a bit of a smell, and Repede backed up beside Kairi causing Yuri to finally turn to us with a raised eyebrow wondering just what we were doing, until… **POP!** Estelle covered her nose fully and Yuri did his best to cover his, "Jeez, you smell horrible!" Kairi was covering her nose with one hand and waving her hand frantically in front of her to try to push the smell away. "ME? The smell isn't coming from me!" Karol shouted. Good lord how can he stand the smell?! "Please tell us when you're going to do something like that," Estelle complained. I couldn't anymore, I had been holding my breath and inhaled a big whiff while trying to regain air. I fell on my knees hurling up stomach acid as Repede just fainted. Kairi rubbed my back while focusing on Repede as well, I do not do well with odors. Estelle fell to her knees, "Oh, no! Repede! Liana!" Yuri knelt down asking if I was ok, "Why *gasp* the hell *gasp cough* does my *cough cough* nose have to *gasp* make up for my eyes?! *cough*" He took that as an 'I'm not ok' sign, then he looked like a lightbulb went off, "Oh yeah, your glasses. You wear them, right?" I looked up at him with big eyes still trying to get air and choking on the scent again, how'd he know I wear glasses? Kairi tapped my shoulder and handed me, surprisingly, my glasses…damn she must've told him…I didn't even notice I didn't have them on…I got a bad habit of doing that.

"Everyone keep a lookout! An eggbear could come out anytime now. And their famous for their terrible ferocity," Karol said as he was looking around weapon in hand. Yuri got up, his face had a bit of an 'are you serious' upset look, but I knew he wasn't mad at Karol, he was just being a protective brother bear, "So then, Captain Karol, I'm assuming that you're going to lead the charge against this terribly ferocious monster?" Karol turned around, so much confidence in his voice and face…wait until he see's the eggbear, he won't be so confident, "Of course! But I could use a hand from you, Yuri." I slightly smiled under my hands as I kept my nose and mouth covered, he was already sounding like a guild boss, ah he's a big chicken now but give it time, and….the Don's death…and he'll learn. "I'll help too. Oh, and Repede also," Estelle said as Repede slowly got up from regaining consciousness.

"I'll do my best, just, keep well away from me with that stench Karol…," I spoke up, "Me too! I'll help out as well," Kairi chimed in. Yuri looked to us with a very strict look, "No, you two sit back on this one." What the hell?

"Excuse me, I said I'm helping and that's final, no room for negotiations, you seem younger than me so you can't tell me what to do with my life!" I argued. "I must protest as well, I want to help, this doesn't sound like it'll be easy," Kairi said.

"Kairi you're supposed to be keeping off your hands for the day, and plus that, the two of you don' even have blastia, so stay back and away," Yuri said, which basically slapped me in the face…he was…trying to keep our alien status a secret from Karol. Right now he was in brother bear mode, he didn't know if he could trust Karol with our secret because he's so young, and come to think of it, Karol couldn't keep his mouth shut at times…but still…I knew Karol wasn't bad, I know he isn't, which is why I trust him…sure Yuri might be looking out for us, but can't he have faith in our ability to confide in trusting people…well not 100% confide and not that we can sense trusting people, can't help that we have this predetermined knowledge…but still.

I placed my hands triumphantly on my hips and stood upright, "Ok you whippersnapper, I see what you're getting at, but I'll do just fine on my own strength, Kairi can keep back due to her injury, and plus that and you have no rights to tell me I can't help, I reject your reality and substitute my own!" He gave me a defeated look which turned to amusement, "Whippersnapper? Just how old are you anyways?" I stood proudly again, "26 going on 27 in a month!" They all except for Kairi gave me a large eyed 'Are you kidding me' look, haha, I give people that impression a lot due to my childish heart and immature nature when they meet me and I tell them too. "Well then, how about we have a bit of a walk around the forest?" Yuri said finally getting over his shock at my age…seriously I'm just 26, I'm not even in my thirties like the old man, though I guess my height and nature don't help. Karol began walking ahead, the rest of us keeping well behind to avoid the stink coming from him, I was careful to watch where I stepped as I saw a few nia fruits on the way on the ground.

* * *

-*- A Nia Fruit? Here? -*-

Estelle: Why would a nia fruit be lying on the ground in a forest? I didn't see a nia tree nearby…

Karol: Oh, that'd be the monsters in the forest. It's how they mark their territory.

Estelle: Can we really just take it, then? …I suppose there's no way for us to ask permission.

Yuri: Yeah, I don't really speak 'monster'. Karol, they don't teach that in your guild, do they?

Karol: The Hunting Blades hunt monsters! We don't need to waste time making friends with them!

Estelle: …That's a shame.

Kairi: Mhm.

Karol: Huh? Seriously?

Liana: YEAH! Like how awesome would it be to have like this giant cool amazing monster pal and be like 'Say Hello to my Little Friend'?

* * *

A rustle in the bushed followed by some cracking branches alerted us and Karol quickly ran behind Yuri, "B-be on your guard, everyone. It's r-really ferocious…!" Yuri looked kinda annoyed, but I bet he was happy to be relied on, but at the same time he wanted Karol to grow up a bit, "Hey fearless leader, you're not supposed to hide right after saying things like that." Karol pouted a bit trying to regain his former confidence, "The star always performs the finishing blow, everybody knows that!" I pouted now too, "Normally, I'd call that a kill steal than a star performance." Right then a Filifolia popped out of the bushes and walked on by, Karol was partly freaking out…seriously? He had a ways to grow up…

"No…I don't think so…" Estelle said watching the tiny monster run by. Finally large stomps could be hear and the eggbear walked in the center of the path turning to stare at us as Karol screamed, "Aaah!" It's cuddly in a vicious way, "T-that's an eggbear…?" Estelle said in complete shock behind Yuri as well. "No, it's Teddy Ruxspin on steroids, of course it's an eggbear!" I shouted. Yuri looked excited as it began stomping over to us, "Well, I have to hand it to you, Captain Karol, operation stink bomb was a smashing success." Karol pouted, "Hey, d-don't go giving my plan weird names." (Honestly it fits perfectly…) "Stand up straight when you say stuff like that," Yuri advised him. And here comes a lot of pain…

* * *

Sorry, we did reach the eggbear, but no eggbear fight yet, I've stuck with 8k-9k words for a few chapters, though dunno if I should do more. I got this chapter and 2 drabbles up post up before I can begin the next one. Hopefully whatever I got goes away so I can stop taking medicine that makes me drowsy and sleepy.

Next: Eggbear fight and healing Halure's tree yay….not so pumped up, I gotta sleep again….

Translations for the Japanese Kairi spoke during her laughing fit

Mou= Jeez/Geez/Sheesh

Iya= No

Kudaranai= This is stupid/ So stupid

Yuri Maji Megami= Yuri your such a goddess!/ Yuri your seriously(really) a goddess!


	9. 8: This ain't Okami y'know

This took more time due to home issues, my sickness, and sheer thoughts on how to write this…I didn't plan this out 100%, I'm just thinking of how I'd react and what would happen as we move along, no future thinking….So don't expect 100% fancy things XD

Please remember, ( ) parenthesis are thoughts, _italics are telepathic talk between me and Kairi_ (Although that should be obvious up to now)

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Tales of Vesperia, Justin, or Caryn. I DO have permission to use Justin and Caryn though. I OWN myself, Kairi, and my work in this fic.

* * *

This fight was rough for my first playthrough, but now it was reality, this was just fantastic…and to make matters worse, 2 wolves and an axe beak decided to join the fray. "Oh my GOD, Fuck Off you GIANT TURKEY!" I shouted as I began engaging the Axe Beak, if I had to choose between an Eggbear and an Axe Beak…I'll take that Eggbear, these guys are SO ANNOYING! Karol and Repede took out the wolves no trouble, but a loud thud and crash made me turn to see Estelle running back casting first aid with Yuri getting up near a tree trunk, he must've been smacked into it.

I lost my focus for that short bit and got kicked by the Axe Beak on my side, its sharp talons ripping my clothes and only managing to scratch my skin. "GYAH! HEY! GRRR I'MMA FUCKING HAVE YOU FOR THANKSGIVING DINNER YOU - ," I cut myself off remembering there is a child in the party…the many F bombs I dropped were going to get me in big trouble with big brother Yuri and Estelle later. I began pounding on it until it was a bloody mess on the ground, "Peh, serves you right you spawn from….Hades!" I remembered to correct my speaking that time.

Sad to say when I turned around, all I saw was chaos…THERE WAS NO STRATEGY OR FORMATION, ESTELLE WAS FUCKING RUNNING UP TO THE EGGBEAR TO FIGHT IT RATHER THAN HEALING, WHILE KAROL AND REPEDE LOOKED LIKE HELL, AND YURI LOOKED A BIT BETTER BUT WAS CLEARLY STARTING TO LOSE TP! (OH MY GOD, WHERE IS A CONTROLLER TO SET THEIR SETTINGS WHEN YOU NEED IT?!) I was getting pissed and stormed up to them giving the Eggbear a good few hits and jumping back away from its paws, I already saw how hard this mother fucker could hit, I was NOT going to take one; I'll do a few hits at a time and retreat rather than all out gambling like these guys were…I probably could solo it that way if I just could learn to put aer into my bracers to boost the strength of my hits (Raw attack power, that's my style~)

As I backed up Yuri finally went down as the paw swiped him hard, "I screwed up," I heard him say, dammit he got knocked out or worse killed. I saw Estelle fidgeting with her bag to use a life bottle quickly, but when Yuri got up, Karol and Repede both went down (…ok enough is enough), "OK CAN YOU GUYS STOP RUSHING HIM AND DEFEND WHEN HE SWINGS OR BACK UP!" I shouted as Estelle used a life bottle on Karol, and Karol used a life bottle he had been holding on Repede (How many life bottles do we have again? I think we only had like 2 or 3….and Karol may have a few, and Kairi has 1…), I know they don't know how to backstep yet cause they haven't obtained the skill (…damn I should've asked Yuri to buy that Scimitar back in Deidon!) "ESTELLE DON'T YOU DARE GET CLOSER! YOU FREAKING STAY RIGHT THERE AND HEAL DAMMIT!" She was about to run over and I shouted in her direction, "I MEAN IT! YOU GUYS AREN'T GOING TO GET ANYWHERE LIKE THIS, HE'S SLOW SO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THAT AND PUT DISTANCE ON YOU WHEN YOU'RE INJURED SO ESTELLE CAN HEAL YOU! WHEN HE FLEXES USE THAT OPPORTUNITY TO ATTACK!" Seriously that flex animation was silly in the game but as ridiculous as it was, I was grateful for the opening right now.

They stared at me like I had 5 heads…seriously, I'm angry, I'm older, I'm more sensible, I've played this game many times….is it really so surprising to hear me speak wisely albeit angrily? A ringing sound and lights surrounding us all for a second showed me that Kairi had used a party heal, ah that felt so much better, my scratch was all closed up now, too bad it can't fix clothes. Needless to say they exchanged looks around, realizing that I was right, and kept their distance while fighting, Yuri kept using combos of Azure Edge, Cerberus Strike, and Fang Strike before running away to keep away from the swinging paws. Even when the eggbear began its double swing and was punching away at Yuri and Karol, Estelle's healing was keeping them at good health when they backed off like I said. Repede was distributing apple gels when need be in case one was still too close to receive Estelle's First Aid. Though Estelle looked like she wanted in on the fight (Seriously…I know you want to help, but we're kinda down one healer right now, once Yuri decides Kairi can join again, we'll have party healing enough for you to join the main lines here, but not now). And other than that one cast Kairi was keeping her distance, but her healing wand was in her hand, she was doing her best to keep to Yuri's command but was prepared in case we all got thrashed.

Things were going pretty well, better than the Zagi fight that's for sure, mainly cause of his slowness. I was in thought for a second and felt the two claws of the eggbear pounding into my body as he was using his double punch move that can really leave a beating on you. I felt so much pain, all the air was just leaving my body, (GOD DAMN THIS THING CAN PUNCH!) Before he could land another, I saw a half a sword slash at him as I fell down on the ground. Karol was now hacking at him to get his attention until it right hooked him about half way across the area, poor little guy flew pretty darn high too! "Holy power come to me, first aid!" I hear Estelle shout as she healed Yuri who was in actually good health now that I saw him, (GOD DAMMIT ESTELLE! HEAL KAROL! HIS HP IS WORSE THAN YURI'S RIGHT NOW!) She could be as bad as Kratos at times….I noticed the claws bearing down on me, images of Zagi bearing his swords down at me flashed through my mind and I willed myself to roll like a log across the floor well away from him. "GAH, I saw my life flash before my eyes…" I huffed out as I felt a ring from Estelle's First Aid on me. "Oh really, how was it then," Yuri joked. I put my hand on his shoulder, pulled him close and circled my arm around and out like that buzz lightyear meme, "It was FABULOUS!" Yuri could only chuckle a bit as we returned to give Karol and Repede a hand.

After what felt like an hour or two, "Dragon Upper!" Karol's sword slashed into its head and the eggbear fell. Wow….wish Karol could've done that sooner, a one hit KO would be better than taking so much beatings. He turned around after seeing the eggbear wasn't getting up anymore, "See! See what I did? That was nothing!" Estelle pouted, "Repede helped too!" Repede just whined, "I was the amazing strategists! Give me some credit!" I said poutily. "Thanks," Yuri said sarcastically. "You helped out a lot too Yuri," Kairi said with pink cheeks. "And I had said for you not to join in," Yuri said at Kairi raising an eyebrow. "I-It was only one heal, I laid back and didn't do anything like you said, promise," Kairi panicked a bit flustered at Yuri's comment. He just smiled and rubbed her head, "No problem, thanks for that back there, but remember, still no overdoing it." Kairi looked like she might faint at his touch on her head, ah he was in big brother mode again and she was now in romance mode, the two just don't mix…kinda reminds me of the travelling inn couple's relation but not quite…where's some popcorn for this drama?

"Karol, come get the claw. I don't know what I'm doing here" Yuri asked Karol. Karol began to panic, he wasn't fully assured that he had felled the beast, "What? A-anybody can do that. It just comes right off." We all move towards it to see how to remove the claw, "Here, let me help too…Ugh," Estelle said as she looked at the mangled eggbear's body before covering her mouth in disgust. "Estelle, why don't you guard the perimeter" Yuri suggested to her to keep her form losing her lunch. "R-right" She said a bit sadly and moved away trying to get air to keep herself from vomiting, she probably wanted to do something since I made her just heal everyone when needed.

"Y-you're sure it's totally dead, right?" Karol said, ah he was so freaked out and here came another favorite scene of mine. Yuri gave a quick devious smirk and, "Raaaagh!" he roared, "Gyaaaah!" Karol screamed causing Estelle to turn around quickly in shock wondering if a monster had popped out. Kairi was giggling uncontrollably while I was doing my best not to laugh aloud again. "Wow, Captain. If I didn't know you were just goofing around, I'd swear you were really scared," Yuri said with the best amused look on his face I'd seen; Karol was shaking like a leaf though slowly laughing, "Uh…H-hah hah…Pretty good, huh?"

Joking aside Yuri grabbed the claw…well more like it just popped off, ugh. "How's the nose, Repede?" Yuri asked as the canine companion merely looked up at him almost as if they were telepathically talking. "Now all we need is the Luluria Petal, right? Let's go pay the mayor another visit," Estelle asked, shoulda made a checklist if you didn't know what was next Estelle.

* * *

-*- Eat or be eaten -*-

Estelle: Monsters are easier to beat than I thought…

Yuri: Isn't that better than being harder than you thought?

Estelle: But I feel sorry for them…

Repede: *Whiiine*

Yuri: …You're way too nice. I don't particularly enjoy being someone else's dinner.

Estelle: You're right…This is different from inside the castle…The strong eat the weak.

Yuri: Well, we're not gonna be eating any of these monsters.

Repede: *Woof!*

Liana: Though in reality….couldn't you eat them? I mean unless they're poisonous wouldn't it help feed people?

Yuri: ! You…You're kidding right?

Liana: Wonder if an Axe Beak would taste like Turkey or Chicken?

Yuri: ! …I can't even think of what to say to that…

Repede: *Whine*

Estelle: …I…I won't hesitate to defeat any monsters! But I will never forget what I fought or where I fought it.

Yuri: Huh? Well…suit yourself, I guess…

Estelle: Then when I return to the capital, I will make graves in memory of all the monsters I've killed.

Yuri: ! *backs away* I…uh…I guess you could do that…*to Repede* …I don't understand these girls at all…

Repede: *Whiiine*

* * *

As we made our way to the exit of woods, a familiar voice boomed out, "Yuri Looowell! I know that you're here in these woods with those two maidens! Turn yourselves in like good boys and girls!" Yuri let out a very heavy sigh, "You've gotta be kidding me. Leblanc followed us all the way outside the barrier?" I giggled, "You're very well loved Mister Lowell," I teased. "Oh really, he's calling for you two as well y'know," he said with his funny bemused face. I hugged myself tightly, "Even we wanna be loved and needed too you know~." Kairi and Estelle giggled at my comment as Yuri looked like he was about to crack into laughter.

Karol waltzed over, "Uh, what? Who followed you?" Yuri turned to him, "Oh, just some guys from the Imperial Knights…" Karol just laughed expecting us to say it was a joke, "Hah hah, yeah, right, the Knights are chasing their own former member and two weird girls." When no one spoke up, Yuri gave him an amused look and Karol panicked, "Wait, seriously?!"

"I-I say, c-come out now, will you?" Adecor spoke. "Sh-show yourselves now and we-we'll spare you a pummeling!" Boccos spoke. I turned to Kairi and just deadpan stated, "They just sexually harassed us with words…" Estelle gasped believing what I stated, and looked serious, "They won't get away with that if we meet them!" Ah she was so gullible it was fun. Yuri was just standing there completely entertained by the situation, "Shaking in your boots at mere rumors…and you call yourselves knights of the Schwann Brigade," Leblanc shouted.

Karol looked suspiciously at us, wondering if travelling with us is safe, "…So, what're they after you for? Vandalism? Fraud? Smuggling? Robbery? Murder? Arson?" Yuri turned to him amused, "Um, it's really just for jailbreak for the three of us…Anyway let's bolt!" Yuri looked around before grabbing leaves, bushes, and sticks to create a barricade. "There we go," Yuri said as he finished up. Estelle looked angry, "We can't do that! It'll get in the way of other people passing through!" Yuri just rolled his eyes, "Who's gonna be passing through? These woods are "cursed," remember?" And With that Yuri walked off with Repede, Kairi and I following with Estelle behind. "Waah, wait up!" Karol shouted.

* * *

As we headed back to Halure, I noticed it was still day out despite being late afternoon, "Say, I know we're in a hurry to get to Halure again, but would it hurt to defeat some monsters along the way that we spot?" I really wanted the party to level up, if they had weapons with skills it could help them obtain the skills faster but…no such luck on us yet. "Huh? Why would we want to fight unnecessary battles?" Yuri said poutily. "Well judging by the butt whooping we got from that eggbear, it'd make for some good practice with formations, strategy, and experience, besides it's not like these small monsters can compare to the eggbear, but still…" I tried thinking of how to get them onboard for this, "I'd like that as well, it does make sense for us to grow stronger, don't you agree Yuri?" Estelle said. Yuri looked in thought before sighing in defeat, "I guess you got a point, looks like we got some homework Captain Karol." Karol looked panicked but since it was a 3 to 1 vote, he wasn't going to win, "HUH?! What but…uh, ok! I-I'll try my best!" I smiled as we fought every monster we met along the way.

As it became dark we walked into the village again I noticed the mayor was still in front of his house, wonder what he did the whole time we were out? Estelle ran up to him, "Sir, you wouldn't happen to have any Luluria Petals, would you?" He looked shocked, like a precious secret was uncovered, "Who'd you hear that from? I mean, I do, but…" We explained everything to the mayor since he was unwilling to part with his petals…seriously. "Ahh, so that's why you need a petal. The luluria is one of the three flowers that blooms on Halure's tree. The petals are dried for half a year in the shade, and they're very valuable. This is my last petal, but if it'll restore the tree to its old self, then I don't mind giving it to you." He handed the petal to Estelle who bowed deeply, "Thank you!" Karol cheered, "All right, now we can make a panacea bottle!" Yuri nodded, "Let's go to the General Store."

We headed up to the general store and I found myself wondering (…it's so dark, how can he do business with no lamp or light, it's pitch black in there!) "Ah, you're back! Have you gotten all the ingredients together?" The store tender asked us. "We sure did," Karol said placing the items on the countertop. "Eggbear claw, nia fruit, and luluria petals…That's everything. All right, let's get this stuff made." Estelle bowed, "Please, Karol." What was she bowing for? Please what?

We paid up the 10 gald and in 5 minutes our panacea bottle was done. "Here you go, one panacea bottle!" The shop keeper said handing the bottle over to Karol. "Now we'll be able to cleanse the poison! Let's hurry!" Karol said before dashing a bit, the bottle shaking in his hands, "Whoa, whoa, settle down! You'll drop the bottle if you're not careful!" Yuri said strictly, probably not in the mood to fight another eggbear. "R-right. Then, let's hurry cautiously!" Karol said in return, and we all began walking up the hill to the tree.

Once we were there a crowd started gathering, guess the rumors of people trying to heal the tree got to just about everyone. I spotted the mayor running and making his way through the crowd to us, "Oh! Have you made the antidote to cleanse the tree of poison?" Yuri looked over at Karol, a soft smile on his face, "Karol, it's up to you. I'm no good at this sort of thing." I smiled, I knew he meant he was not good at handling possibly being a hero for a town rather than using the panacea bottle on the tree, although he might not know how to do that either hehe.

"Who, me? Okay then. Here goes!" Karol said as he rushed to the tree's trunk and began working on using the panacea bottle on the blood stained roots. "Didn't Karol say there was someone he wanted to show the blossoms of Halure to?" Estelle asked us, recalling Karol's rant on the bridge. "I think so. Here's hoping we aren't too late" Yuri said, I slightly frowned a bit, oh we were late alright, Nan was already with Tison and Clint by now, and she wouldn't believe him about anything even if we vouched for him…but still.

Suddenly a bunch of petals flew off the ground as though air was coming through the ground, and suddenly the tree was glowing in its center. "The tree is…" Estelle was staring so intently and fascinatingly. "Please, great tree of Halure. Restore the fallen barrier" the mayor said pleadingly, the town's people clasping their hands in prayer, some even on their knees praying and begging the tree to return. But as quickly as the light came, it receded, leaving the towns folk devastated. "Please…" The mayor begged, I felt so awful, I wish Estelle would hurry up with it, Kairi was feeling uneasy at the villagers woe as well. "No way! Was the dosage too small? Or maybe this isn't the right way…" Karol said, his earlier confidence fading. Estelle quickly turned to us, "We'll have to get another panacea bottle!" The mayor who had been silently sobbing wiped his eyes and turned to us with a sad frown, his voice drained of happiness, "I'm afraid that's impossible. That was the last of the Luluria Petals." He turned to the tree with a sad smile, this old man probably had many memories with this tree…this is just…

Estelle ran up to the tree staring up at it, "But…but we tried so hard…" She clasped her hands together and I prayed to whatever god or gods that may be to not screw this up. "Please, Great Tree…" Estelle said before she began to glow, little lights escaping her body. "Estelle…" Yuri said almost breathlessly staring at her intensely with wide eyes. "Bloom" and with that the blastia lit up making the tree glow, grow, and bloom, it was so pretty….more than pretty…this was more beautiful than fireworks on the 4rth of July.

Little green lights came out from the ground, aer I guessed, one touched my hand and I felt tiny bit nauseous, but as a mass of them kept pouring from the ground pretty evenly spaced out that I soon found myself covering my mouth wanting barf. It wasn't bad enough to make me need air so much as it did want me to hurl out all the stomach acid in my body and make me lightheaded; Kairi looked about the same. I began wondering why we weren't gasping for air until a thought hit me: is this spirit conversion? But if so, why is the barrier still up? Weird. We watched as the rings of the barrier blastia returned and everyone began cheering, hugging each other, and sobbing in sheer happiness.

"Amazing…" Karol said staring at Estelle with wide eyes. "Can this be…? Is she using healing artes…? It's like a dream…There's no way…and yet…" the mayor rambled on just as Estelle collapsed huffing and puffing for air on the ground. Yuri and Karol were about to move when some kids ran over happily to thank Estelle. "Yay! Yay! You're the greatest!" the little boy shouted. "Thanks for making the tree of Halure healthy again!" the little girl said bouncing on her feet, and just as quickly as they came they both ran to see the tree. "We owe you our gratitude. Thanks to this, our city can live once more…" the mayor said bowing deeply.

"W-what did I just…?" Estelle looked as confused as she could be for the moment at all the thanks she was receiving. Yuri knelt down beside her offering her a hand, breathlessly speaking, "…That was incredible, Estelle. Can you get up?" She seemed to refuse his offer and get up herself, her face turning to surprise at the sight of Kairi and I. Yuri turned to see what she was staring at before almost anime falling over at the sight of how green faced Kairi and I looked, "Y-You two okay there?" I looked up at him unhappily, mouth still covered and holding my stomach with my other hand, sarcastically speaking, "No, I'm having a blast. What do you think?"

He merely sweatdropped at that as I looked up at the tree, "It's kinda sad the tree has no name. There are tons of trees in Halure so just saying Halure's tree seems kinda lazy." Yuri looked amused as Estelle chimed in, "I suppose your right."

"What would you call it?" Yuri asked amused at my struggling to talk and not barf. "I'd name it Konohana. In Japanese if you split it apart Kono and Hana it would mean 'this flower'…or 'this nose' depending on how it's spelt. Also it's linked to an old legend of a flower goddess" I said, though really I was thinking of Okami, but it is based on legend as is most of Okami's storyline.

"Why that's a brilliant idea! Konohana, the protector of Halure, it sounds so delightful! Everyone hear what I have to say! Our tree now has a name!," the mayor smiled at me as he spoke about naming the tree Konohana. I merely gave him an 'OH MY GOD ARE YOU SERIOUS?' look. I didn't think the mayor would hear me or accept it…now I was having a damn craving to play Okami…what would it have been like to be in Okami I wonder, not much fighting since fighting only gives money, not strength, or levels…Kairi just sweatdropped at the fact that Halure's tree would be called Konohana.

"Yuri!" Karol said as he ran up to Yuri's side with his hand up for a high five….well as high as he could make it on his tip toes…so precious haha. Yuri gave him a high five without wincing like he normally does with his and Karol's Sign of Victory (…must be because it's lower than the actual thing where Karol has to jump putting more force into the slap). Yuri gave one more look at the tree before saying his thoughts aloud amusingly, or at least what I figured would be his thoughts, "Flynn's gonna be so surprise to see the flower's blooming. Hah, that'll show him." Estelle resumed her confused face once more, "You and Flynn seem to have such a strange relationship. You are friends, aren't you?" Yuri quickly turned to her and basically denied saying they were friends much like how Flynn denied them being childhood friends in the First Strike movie, "He's just someone I grew up with, that's all."

Repede who had been beside Kairi whined and waltzed up to Yuri catching his attention before turning his head towards the direction where some familiar faces and one familiar set of three toned hair stood. "Fudge," I said aloud staring at Zagi's back head, I didn't want to screw things up and have to fight these guys here, we gotta run! "Aren't those the people from the castle…?" Estelle asked Yuri worriedly. "We can't let these people get caught up in this. Let's lay low for a while," Yuri suggested, but I had a thing or two to say about that, but before I could speak up Karol spoke up, "Huh? What did I miss? Where are you guys going?!" Yuri didn't answer as he began walking off with Estelle towards the inn, or at least I hope we weren't going to the inn…my god I can't believe I just thought that, a bed and bath sounds nice right about now…but…this is reality now, carelessness that I once could have on Earth is going to get us and those around us killed!

As Yuri was about to walk up into the inn he spoke up before I could protest, "Man, those guys are a pain in the neck." I spoke up as he reached the top step, "Wait! Yuri!" He turned around surprised by my sudden raise in tone despite that I gripped my tummy from the spinning that was still occurring. "Whoa, what is it?" He asked suddenly amused at my squirming to keep balanced and barf free.

I looked up at him seriously, "We can't stay here, even if we stay low in a room, what are the odds they'll still be prowling around tomorrow morning? As much as I'd like a bed and bath, we can't afford that luxury right now."

Estelle suddenly got pouty, "But, But I have to wait for Flynn and-" I looked at her sternly with a bit of harshness, good grief Flynn's a big boy, plus if we were to fight right now…people would get hurt, especially with Zagi.

Images of the Red Eye guy being ripped to shreds by Zagi filled my brain and I stood tall shaking off my nausea to stare into her eyes with a harsh truth that she needs to hear to put down her stubbornness, "Estelle I understand that, but right now if we make a bad call we may involve innocent people. I may not know much entirely about what their motives are other than they're after Flynn, but if we catch their attention they may involve the citizens. Hell they may even kill them. Plus if this Flynn is a knight, shouldn't he, y'know, be able to fight like Yuri can since Yuri was an ex-knight? I doubt he'd be some delicate little flower or a push over, plus he's not here so he's safe from them for now, so stop being so dang stubborn and use that lump that's 3 feet above your ass for a change! You seem old enough to have a fully developed prefrontal cortex so USE IT!"

Kairi just face palmed as Estelle, Karol, and Yuri gave me incredulous looks. I huffed out air I didn't know I drew in while talking, good grief Estelle knew how to press all my buttons. I turned around set to walk off when Yuri spoke up and walked up beside me, "You got a point, we can't lay low here, we'll have to camp outside somewhere on the way out." Estelle looked shocked still and a bit dazed but she lowered her head, "I…you're right…the people could get hurt…I wasn't thinking about that, I'm sorry."

I turned to her with serious eyes, "If you get it then let's get going then. Besides…if we head towards the way Flynn was we should bump into him though, right? So then you won't have anything to complain about." I turned away from her and gripped my fist tight, "I swear if he passes by us I shall curse him with a 100 years of bad hair days!" I knew we wouldn't see him on the way, but so I need an excuse for when I was gonna curse him for having to leave me with an annoying Estelle in tow. Estelle just stared at me shocked before turning her head back to the sky.

"I wish we could wait here for Flynn to come back…" Estelle said to herself sadly still. "Who's this Flynn person?" Karol asked confused at me and Kairi.

"Don't look at us, we've never met the guy," I shrugged.

"He's an Imperial Knight that Estelle's got a crush on," Yuri snapped his fingers.

Estelle looked absolutely appalled and Karol was just shocked, "What?!"

Estelle ran up to Yuri pouting like a little girl to her teasing older brother, "I don't have a crush on him!" I nodded my head a few times, "Mhm, that would explain so much…" She looked to me appalled as well, "I don't!"

Yuri then snapped his fingers again, "You don't? Ohhh, I get it. You two are already a thing then?" Her cheeks puffed up and she practically was on her toes to hiss at Yuri, "No, it's not like that at all!" She turned away blowing off steam before Yuri turned to me and Kairi, "Well, anyway, we'd best be getting away from the town."

At that Estelle's head dropped again, "Yes, you're right. We wouldn't want to cause trouble for the villagers." I rolled my eyes, oh my god I'm going to nuts so long as she's around. I just want to get to Duke and get out of this place already. Karol looked over at us, "Do you know where this Flynn guy went off to? You could follow after him." Basically what I just said a bit ago, Estelle's head still didn't raise and I decided to ignore her before I get pissed again.

Yuri looked over to Karol as if he'd have confirmation of where Flynn went, "Didn't they say he'd gone off to the east?" Estelle quickly lifted her head, "Yes, they did." Yuri rubbed his chin with his fingers in thought, "I'd like to get to Aspio somehow… Anyway, let's get out of here before the goon squad shows up." Just as we turned to walk away we heard a familiar voice calling to us.

"Please wait," the mayor shouted at us as he ran down the hill towards us. We all turned to him waiting as he caught his breath, "You deserve a reward for restoring our tree. Please stop by at my house." Estelle shook her head and smiled at him, "Oh, please don't mind." He stood up from being a bit slouched over, "I will be waiting at my house. Please come." And like that he bowed and ran right past us towards his house. "Uh, wait…" Estelle tried to shout, but failed miserably.

"A reward? What do you say?" Karol asked Estelle who watched the mayor running off in the distance. "Well, I guess we can't ignore his offer and leave," Yuri piped up, I nodded, "Yeah, he's gonna be waiting all night if we just up and leave without a word…" Estelle clasped her hands together, "I wasn't really sure what I did back there. I don't think I deserve anything." Yuri leaned a bit on one leg, thinking, "Let's just stop by at the mayor's house. We can still decline his offer there."

Once at the mayor's house he bowed as he saw us on his porch, "Welcome, Welcome! Here, make yourself at home," he said pulling some chairs for us…since he was inside I bet he was brewing some tea too…(sounds so nice about now but)...

"Thank you. But unfortunately we need to be leaving very soon," Estelle spoke up. "Are you leaving before that young knight is back?" the mayor asked surprised. "The situation's changed a bit," Yuri answered. "Did something come up?" the mayor asked concerned. "You could say that" Yuri said. The mayor nodded in understanding, "If there's anything I can do to help, don't hesitate to ask." The mayor was reminding me of Hanks, only not as awesome as Hanks is haha. "We appreciate the sentiment, but we can't ask for your help," Estelle spoke up, almost uncaringly, she could have added 'we don't want anyone to get hurt' to make it sound less heartless, sheesh.

"I see…Then, it's not much, but I'd at least like you take this," the mayor said trying to hand Yuri a bag of gald. Yuri just wide eyed stared and looked around a bit before pointing to himself, "Who, me? I didn't do anything at all." The mayor looked a bit taken aback, but still tried, "But since your friend helped us out so much…" Kairi smiled at him softly as he turned to hand her the bag, "Oh no, it's alright, we really must decline." I simply shrugged as he turned to me, "Sorry, taking bags of gald in people's stead is not my style good sir." Karol held out his hand, "Well then, I'd be happy to -"

Yuri and I gave him a stern look causing his eyes to go wide and panic a little. Estelle shouted and scolded him, "No, we can't take that!" He paused before scratching the back of his head, he'd have to learn that some things aren't all about gald, "Oh…um…yeah, I guess I can't….take that…"

The mayor looked in distress and in thoughts, "But then how will I ever repay you?" Yuri then thought for a second before declaring, "Well, how about this. The next time we come into town, set us up with VIP blossom viewing picnic seats!"

Estelle clapped her hands in approval, "That's a great idea! I can't wait." I began thinking about it, come to think of it did the group ever get that picnic? I know next time the tweedles will be here so there won't be a picnic. At the thought of a picnic my tummy rumbled…it had been a long time since we had those sandwiches in the Quoi woods, I was starving about now, but it's so late. Yuri just turned to me amused as the mayor bowed, "…All right then. The next time you're here, I'll put my heart and soul into paying back what you've done for us!" He then turned to me and Kairi, "would you wait for just one moment please?" I raised an eyebrow confused but nodded.

As the mayor turned to walk inside a light bulb seemed to go off in Yuri's head, "Oh, can I ask you one thing? Have you ever heard of a town called Aspio?" The mayor turned to Yuri thinking before, "…Aspio? Ah yes, I believe that was the name of the City of Shade…" Yuri looked in thought, "The City of Shade…" The mayor nodded and continued his information giving, "From what I've heard, the town lies between tall mountains, and sunlight rarely reaches its gates. Every now and then, a few quiet folks in cloaks and hoods come to our town to get supplies…But they're quite creepy, to be honest. Our town doesn't deal with them much." Yuri was getting a bit serious, "Where is this town located?" The mayor looked in thought, "Towards the east, I think. I wish I could tell you the exact location…"

Estelle looked happy, "Flynn was headed east as well, wasn't he?" Yuri pieced together things and soon, "Yeah. I suppose a 'city of scholars' might have some link to blastia, after all," he gave the mayor a grateful look, "Thanks, that's all I needed."

The mayor turned to go into his house after he and Estelle bowed to one another. "I'm coming for you, Mordio!" Yuri said aloud, his face rather dark looking. I sighed before giving him a Gibb's slap on the back on his head, "Ow! Hey, what was that for?" I looked up at him and put both my hands on my hips before stating, "You know if you make faces, it'll stay that way." He gave me an amused look before chuckling, "That's an old tale you know, it's not really true."

I looked up at him seriously, "It is true you know, and I can prove it, I use to frown a lot when I was a kid because of a lot of things growing up…so…" I relaxed my face and just let it go normally plain. My lips turned into a frown, my eyes were dropped sadly, my cheeks were no longer being supported up and only added to the pitiful look on my face, "This is what I look like if I don't put on any emotion of any sort, if I just relax and clear my mind if someone were to say 'chill out or relax for the picture'…just…nothing." He looked wide eyed before I put back on my serious look, "So unless you want the face of a troll, be careful." He merely nodded a bit stiffly, probably worried about his face getting stuck now. The mayor came out and handed us all some wrapped sandwiches for the road which we gladly accepted, I was super hungry.

As we got the entrance of Halure, Estelle spoke up, "This may be a selfish thing to say, but…I'm happy this means we're continuing our journey. I haven't known this sort of freedom until now." Yuri chuckled a bit, "Hah hah," until a thought hit him and he turned to Karol, "So Karol, what are your plans?" Karol spoke up as though we'd follow him, "I want to go to the port city, and cross over to Tolbyccia from there." Yuri looked a tiny bit upset for a moment but covered it up quickly (Aww he's gonna miss his little bro~ )

"So, I guess it's goodbye, then," Yuri said. Karol just looked shocked, "Huh?!" (…Ummm he did hear we were going east to Aspio, right? Why was he so surprised that we're saying goodbye since he's going west? ) "Thanks, Karol. It's been fun," Yuri finished softly. Estelle bowed, "Please take care of yourself." I giggled a bit seeing the panic on his face, "Aww and here I was hoping we could keep him since he's so precious."

Kairi just gave me and odd look as well as Estelle and Yuri. He turned away, "On second thought, maybe I'll stick with you guys a while longer." Yuri now turned to Karol with an odd look, "Why?" Karol just wagged his finger and struck his prideful pose, "You guys would be lost and lonely without me around." I couldn't hold it in anymore…that Emil voice…talking about loneliness…I grabbed him in a tight hug against my chest, "He's so precious!~"

Karol flailed his arms, his face burning a bright red, he shouted loudly, "Gyaah! They're in my face! They're in my face!" Yuri looked so amused, "Well, you have come in surprisingly handy, Captain." Estelle smiled happily as well, "Well then, let's all go together." Karol popped his head out of my between my breasts, "So, east was it?" Yuri turned to him, "Yeah, Flynn went east." Estelle nodded, "Okay." I looked a bit confused, he was answering Karol not you Estelle, sheesh.

Yuri then looked in thought, "I'd like to get to Aspio somehow…" (I swear I feel like the game just broke right now…) "Does everyone here who is of legal drinking age not have a fully developed prefrontal cortex?" Everyone looked at me oddly, I sighed and decided to use simpler words, "the mayor just said Flynn went east, he said Aspio was east…JUST GO EAST DAMMIT! How hard is that?!" Everyone actually looked shocked like they didn't think about that and I felt like I was the only logically sane person in this group. "Anyway, let's get out of here before the goon squad shows up." I tilted my head (Yup the game developers had a brain fart during this part alright…), "You've said that twice, please don't jinx us…" Everyone actually stared at him as if it could actually happen and he sighed in defeat.

* * *

-*- Blastia -*-

Estelle: *Sparkly eyes* Halure's flowers sure are beautiful. I feel like I'm dreaming.

Yuri: Yeah, they're even nicer than I thought they'd be.

Karol: Yeah, this really makes it feel like our hard work was worth it!

Liana: Hard work? More like recklessly charging in.

Yuri: Halure shouldn't worry about monster's attacking, as long as the barrier stays like this.

Estelle: Halure's tree will keep everyone safe.

Yuri: Don't you mean Konohana will keep everyone safe? *smirk*

Liana: Yup, *smirks* so long as people pray to the gods, offer up cherry cakes, and provide great love and praise towards Konohana and the gods. The spirit of Konohana that I will affectionately refer to as Sakuya will protect everyone with the fresh scent of flowers.

Yuri: Umm…*backs away* I was just playing…

* * *

-*- Red-eyes at the Tree of Halure -*-

Karol: Were those the red-eyes? So you got both the Imperial Knights and those guys after you?

Kairi: Huh? Red-eyes is their name?

Liana: So lazy a name, just red-eyes cause they have red glasses or goggles on? Come on, be more original…

Yuri: Yeah, I seem to be a hit with all the weirdos *looking at Kairi and Liana*

Liana: Got something to say Lowell?

Yuri: ! Nothing.

Karol: And what did you do to get so popular?

Yuri: There's twenty-one years' worth of stuff. *smirks* Listing everything might take a while.

Karol: …On second thought, never mind. I don't wanna hear it.

* * *

-*- So…who is Flynn? -*-

Karol: Hey, so just who is this Flynn guy, anyway? Were you and him seeing each other, Estelle?

Yuri: !

Estelle: ? What do you mean? Seeing each other? Flynn is Yuri's friend.

Yuri: Yeah, that's pretty much it.

Karol: Two friends going after the same girl? You got a little wild side, don't you, Estelle?

Yuri: !

Estelle: ? What do you mean? W-wild side?

Karol: No, it's all right. You can keep your secrets.

Yuri: He's so got the wrong idea…

Liana: He better, or you'll have to sign me up for the nearest insane asylum plus exorcist because I will be possessed by an unholy demon that shall make me throw up green goo until no end if this turns into a sappy cliché love triangle themed journey…

Yuri: ! *backs up* Uh….will do….

Kairi: …

* * *

-*- Estelle and Liana 1 -*-

Estelle: Umm…Liana…

Liana: Hm? What?

Estelle: Uh, well…I just wanted to say *bows* I'm sorry.

Liana: What for?

Estelle: Well…it's just that…you don't exactly seem to like me so well…and I realize I upset you when we first met…also…it seems like I upset you somehow earlier…

Liana: Well, I get frustrated and angry fast, what's new?

Estelle: I'll be honest, when I first met you and Kairi, I felt so cautious since the two of you didn't seem familiar nor know who Flynn was.

Liana: *eyebrow raised* And so? I already figured not being on Flynn's friend list immediately placed us well below the list of acquaintances and strangers compared to Yuri.

Estelle: But, I also know now that you're a very good person!

Liana: …*face pink* Huh?!

Estelle: I…*head drops* I was so caught up with thinking about Flynn that the thought of the people of Halure getting hurt didn't even come to my mind. *raises head* But you immediately thought about them first, even enough to scold me for it.

Liana: That's just because I have a fully developed prefrontal cortex for such matters, *turns away* besides I'm not exactly a 'good' person…I'm just human…

Estelle: Huh?

* * *

-*- Pre Front What's a What -*-

Karol: Say Liana.

Liana: Hm, what's up?

Karol: What's a pre front what's a what you keep mentioning?

Yuri: Yeah, you mentioned something about legal drinking age and it too.

Liana: The prefrontal cortex. It's the final part of your brain that matures, it should be about…here *uses Karol's head as an example*

Karol: Gah hey! Don't mess with my hair!

Liana: It controls logical thinking such as actions and consequences and helps with strategy and quick thinking at times. Mine just so happens to be better at action and consequences than most the other logical exploits it can normally perform.

Karol: Wow. So is that why I can be so smart at times?

Liana: Nope, I'm afraid you're still too young for it to be fully developed yet.

Yuri: Huh? And how did you learn about that?

Liana: College, I wanted to be a nurse at one point in time…but…

Yuri: ?

* * *

We ate our sandwiches in silence as we traveled away from Halure, fighting some Axe Beaks and Rhinossus's along the way. Once Halure was no longer in sight along the empty plains, we decided to sleep the night there. I had a hard time even trying to sleep, despite the moon filled night, despite no monsters in sight for miles…I had another issue…and no it's not the hard ground.

I was 100% use to sleeping besides a wall or some kind of barricade to stop me from my rolling in my sleep. Estelle, Kairi, Karol, and Repede were all asleep; Yuri was awake keeping watch in case a monster would spring on us despite the clear view from all angles. I rolled and turned a lot, until I just gave up and lay on my back staring at the stars. I never got to see stars this clear ever, stupid cities and their skyglow and light pollution that blocks out the stars!

I huffed out, this was going slower than compared to the game where I could have gotten to Aspio in like 30 minutes, people sure take for granted just how far the heroes have to go to get to some place or do something. It takes longer than what's the screen shows you…screw being able to warp jump, that isn't gonna be possible here and even with Ba'ul, I doubt it'd take a few hours to get across the continent, but I can wager it'll take a few hours to a half day perhaps…just how fast can Ba'ul move I wonder.

"Can't sleep? We're gonna be waking up early to keep going on before monsters decide to flood the plains you know," I heard Yuri tell me. I sighed, I was really having a hard time sleeping even though I had begun counting the stars. I heard footsteps coming my way, Yuri entered my field of vision before he plopped down behind me, I heard the grass rustle and knew he had laid down opposite of me on the grass, possibly looking the stars as well, dunno, I wasn't going to turn my head to look.

"You've been pretty emotional since the eggbear, you feeling homesick already?" Yuri asked. I just sighed, "You rather I just complain or bitch about every single thing? I…we didn't ask to be here…(actually Kairi did…not that I can tell him) but we are here…nothing left to do than to try to find a way home…if there even is a way home…sure I might get temperamental, but that's better to me than being paranoid, afraid, stuck, or no emotion at all." There was silence, as though he was processing my words.

"Still, think you could back up a bit with Estelle there? Our naïve sheltered little princess doesn't seem used to handling hot tempers yet," he finally spoke up. "Tch," of course he was in big brother mode right now, "Sorry that she just pushes my buttons the wrong way, I know she's probably very young but still, it urks me to no end. First she's all about Flynn, then she's running off at every single thing she sees, she can't read a situation that can endanger people, and she's stubborn as a mule. I'm sure this Flynn guy can handle himself just fine…as long as he's not a wimp like the other knights we fought…he's not right?" (I can't say I just honestly feel like she just wants in Flynn's pants…)

I heard him chuckle a bit, "Yeah Flynn can handle himself just fine, like I said back in the Quoi Woods, I could never beat him at anything, even at swords." Oh yeah, I almost forgot that he told us, I thought I had drowned it out. "Still though," he continued, "try and go a bit more easy on her, it's true she's stubborn and naïve, but it seems like it's her first time out of the castle, cut her some slack." I rolled around on my belly and relaxed to no emotion on my face, staring at the top of Yuri's head.

"Oh really? And how is not letting her learn to make her own decisions a good thing? She needs to learn, she may not have ever gone out of the 'castle', but you know I've never gone out of my 'world' either! But you know what I think? If it was something she TRULY wanted she could have at the least tried!"

He rolled around and looked at me sternly before his eyes widened a bit, "You crying?" I stiffened up, was I? I turned around again wiping my eyes to find them a bit wet, "So? You got a problem with that?" Silence ensued for a few seconds until he finally spoke up, "You do make points, but still, all I'm saying is at least watch the language, we got a kid on board now." I cringed (uh, I keep forgetting that...and I want to be a kindergarten art teacher…ugh Estelle is just as bad as a junior high student though gah!).

"Gotcha! I'll do anything for Karol," I smiled to myself, I honestly loved Karol more than Estelle in the game anyways, Estelle was just the healer, never a favorite. Hell I got nothing Estelle in my room, it's all the others. "Uhhh…sure," he replied a bit oddly, probably thinking I'm some cougar…ah if only he knew of Nier and just how precious Emil was and is to me…Nier Automata made me so mad with what they did to him…

I rocked side to side in grass in boredom, I really wish I could've had some form of bringing my music here rather than playing it in my head. I heard the grass rustle and saw Yuri getting up, "Well, don't sleep too late, okay." I nodded as I heard his footsteps move away and did my best to try to sleep. I had to be woken up about 3 times by Yuri and Repede when he took over for rolling away from the group. My dreams were filled with Len-kuns, bananas, and Yukihira Souma cooking those bananas making Len Road Roller happy.

* * *

So late. I honestly couldn't set up or keep to a schedule with everything in my house now that my mom's visiting. But I'll keep trying and going…Wheee *drained of energy*

Caryn: OMFG JUST GET TO ME ALREADY!

Not even close….*faints*

Caryn: GET UP AND WRITE ANOTHER CHAPTER YOU NIER WHORE!

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Next Time: Rita! OMFG YAASSSS and Nooooooooooo….


	10. 9: A little bit of Rita is all I need

Yeah, decided a bit on a plan with this fiction…sadly…letting everyone know right now….there will be NO Patty, but there will be a Seifer boss, and also….Flynn WILL be joining our party like how it was in the PS3! So you can at least look forward to that in place of Patty missing.

Why did I decide to leave out Patty? One: I determined with her story and how I am…I'd kill/maim some people easily for all to see and be banned from the party perhaps and there goes any chance of getting home. Two: The party is already going to be large as is with the addition of Flynn and others… writing about so many characters might make me forget to add in some people, I'm already cutting back on Repede since he doesn't do much for now. Three: This story is progressing slowly, adding in Patty's side quests and story would put more in that I already have to deal with and will get with just her and Flynn…She will be added in the Drabbles though, once the Fic is over since she does appear in Drama CDs a lot.

Please remember, ( ) parenthesis are thoughts, _italics are telepathic talk between me and Kairi_

Note: When Yuri uses '!' in the skits, it's his surprised face being used! I didn't feel like writing out '*surprised*, figured the ! mark was good enough :)

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Tales of Vesperia, Justin, or Caryn. I DO have permission to use Justin and Caryn though. I OWN myself, Kairi, and my work in this fic.

* * *

We woke up bright and early like Yuri said so. He removed the ban on Kairi's fighting after Estelle deemed her fit to fight. It was a bit later in the day and we all stayed by a small forest area for a break. Where was I right now? Fucking bathing in a cold river after the **MOST** embarrassing and angering scene EVER!

 _-*- An hour before -*-_

I sighed, feeling so tired, suddenly a wave of pain hit my lower stomach. I gripped my tummy in pain, "Ghhh." Kairi quickly turned to me worried, "You ok, what's wrong? Sandwiches 3 times a row not agreeing with you?" The others turned around just as I deadpanned laughed, "Haha, very funny, Gaahh seriously it feels like my intestines want out of my stomach."

Everyone was looking me over until Estelle suddenly gasped loudly and began to panic, "L-Liana! You-You're bleeding from under your dress! What happened?! What's wrong?! Were you assaulted?! *gasp* A-Are you having a miscarriage?! Oh no! Hold on! Holy power come to me, First A-." I quickly grabbed her shoulders stopping her from casting, "Estelle! I'm fine! Spare me the healing artes! I'm not pregnant! Yeesh!" I looked down and indeed blood was trickling down my thighs, "Ugh, that time of the month again…and with no spare panties or pads or Midol…this is great…."

Karol was panicking in the background thinking I had some deadly disease or something. Yuri looked serious too; before cocking his head in confusion and settling after realizing I was perfectly calm, "Time of the month? This kind of thing happens every month or something?" I turned to him with wide eyes (then again, he didn't know what Niren meant when he said he'd take the bigger one…) though surely he should know about women this much right? "Yep, all girls get their period around 8 to 15, I got mine when I was 10, haha I remember telling my mom and she just smiled saying 'I'll bake a cake to celebrate' and I was like 'I'm dying and you're going to celebrate?! What is wrong with you?!' haha, although I hate it with a vengeance, ugh I really need a shower to clean the blood off."

Estelle tilted her head, "Um, What exactly is a period?" I then deadpan stared at her, "…You've never had a period? You taking contraceptives every month or something?" She then again seemed confused, "Contraceptives?" I looked around and Kairi rubbed the back of her head too, she was a god damn OC she doesn't even get them, but really the girls here of Terca Lumireis DON'T?! I curled up on the ground, "Stupid unfair planet…." I couldn't say video game that was for sure…

Yuri crouched down next to me, "So what exactly is a period? Maybe we can get some help at Aspio." I fucking looked up at him and glared, my hormones were kicking in and I was livid, "WHY?! DO YOU SERIOUSLY WANT TO HEAR ABOUT HOW A UTERUS WORKS?! AND HOW THE HELL IS A WORLD WHERE GIRLS DON'T GET PERIODS GONNA HELP?! THERE'S NO PADS! NO MEDICINE! AND NO HEATING PADS!" I growled at him as he backed up a bit, "Whoa there, just trying to help."

Kairi tapped his shoulder and shook her head before crouching down, "Liana, there's a river nearby if you want to bathe. You might have to wash you panties and reuse them for now until we can buy some more." I jumped up, "I'mma go bathe bitc-….peoples…so don't come get me, I'll get back myself!" With that I ran towards the river with my bag tucked over my back wincing in pain here and there at my gut.

-*- end -*-

Ugh this was so disgusting, once I was nice and clean I began washing my panties in the river, it came out easily since when I start my period it's usually waterish to start. I set them to dry on a rock where the sun was shining through the trees as I peered into my bag and grabbed my nightgown as my spare clothes.

I sighed heavily once more, having no towel to dry myself was bad. I had to sit in the sun for a bit, it would be nice to have a friggin towel, pads, panties, and Midol now seriously. I ran my hand in my bag until I felt something unfamiliar and pulled it out…a pad. I blinked dumbly and put my hand in the bag once more and felt something and pulled out a second panty. I blinked dumbly again trying again and pulling out a towel and then pulling out my Midols!? I stared into my bag and I almost teared up….I could see my room…my craftroom….my bathroom….my kitchen….the now empty of people living room…my house. I tried to jump and force myself into my bag, but the bag was too small, if only I could jump through….this bag was like a portal to home! If only it could be bigger! Then a thought hit me, it must be here in case I need something…the Vesperia perfect guide book looks tempting, but if the others saw it, it would be game over.

* * *

I walked back wearing my lolita gear again since my nightgown made it had to maneuver in. I was drinking a bottle of purified water I took out to drink my Midols with and was greeted with a very bizarre sight: Kairi was pulling Yuri's hair, yanking it down a bit as if she was trying to put a lowdown ponytail, Estelle was panicking and Karol was just staring like 'what the heck you doing?' Seriously what was she doing?

"Am I interrupting anything?" I blurted out, Kairi turned to me with a pouty look, "No." I was now curious, this was the kind of situation that could never happen I thought, Kairi's usually so bashful and shy, when was she this aggressive? "So…pulling Yuri's hair isn't just anything?" Yuri just grunted in pain, trying to reach his hands back to grab Kairi's hands off his hair, "No kidding! Gah! Let go already!" Kairi's cheeks puffed up, "Not till I tie it in your hair, stand still." I was lost, "I already said I don't really need it. Ow!" Yuri said back whiningly. This was such an odd sight, where was the popcorn? Could I even make popcorn and pull it back through the bag I wonder, I have like 5 bags of popcorn left. I turned to Estelle and Karol, "So….what happened here?"

Karol spoke up before Estelle could, "I dunno, after Kairi told us a bunch of things about Earth and what a period was, she found this four leaf clover and showed it to Yuri. Then it looked like they were arguing about something then she pulled off her ribbon and started yanking his hair." I sweatdropped….all this for a four leaf clover? Well at least she filled in Karol…and he seems ok with it….must think we're kidding. "Uh Kairi…" She was preoccupied with Yuri's hair, no sign of a blush on her face, but she sure looked pouty.

" _Oh Kairi dear~_ ," I called her through telepathy, smirking with the perfect idea to get her to stop, " _You're getting very tight with Yuri now aren't you? What shampoo do you think he uses? What does it smell like? Is it silky? Is it L'Oréal worth it hair? Do you want to tug on it, ALL NIGHT LONG~?_ " She stiffened and stopped like I predicted, she looked at the hair now in her hands and unconsciously rubbed it a little bit. Yuri turned his head back at her after noticing her stillness, "You done now?" She looked at his face, shivering a little before her entire face and body became a bright red and she collapsed backwards on the ground. Repede ran over to nudge her to try to rouse her, but no such luck. Seems our break will last a little longer.

Yuri looked at Kairi almost sweatdropping before looking up at me curiously, "Where'd you get that?" I merely opened my bag up to him like a trick or treating kid, "My bag is a portal back home…bad thing is…I can't fit in it." He sweatdropped right there at that as I explained what happened at the river.

* * *

-*- Mmm… Pretty Bread -*-

Estelle: It looks like what we just cooked used up the last of our ingredients.

Repede: *Whine!*

Yuri: We'll have to stop by a town and pick up some more, I guess.

Karol: Hey, there was a green piece of veggie-bread left in my bag!

Liana: Green?

Kairi: Uhhh….

Estelle: A green piece of… Uhh… What a strange type of bread.

Repede: *Whine…?*

Yuri: ! …Karol, When did you buy that bread?

Karol: I dunno.

* * *

After many irrelevant fights we made it to the cave where Aspio was and entered in following the lights. We stopped a bit before the gate, I was just staring at the pretty atom looking light on the research building. "It looks like this is Aspio…" Estelle said staring at the sight as well. "It's so gloomy and damp here…It's giving me the chills, too…" Karol said. "It's because the city' is in a cavern," Estelle stated the obvious. I glomped Karol from behind, "There. Feeling chilly now?" I asked with a smirkish smile on my face. "Gwah, L-Liana! They're on my head, they're on my head!" Karol shouted and flailing helplessly. I puffed up my cheeks, "It's not good to have a dirty mind Karol, a hug's supposed to be a hug, not like I asked them to be this big in the first place." Estelle held her hands to her chest as though she was comparing, seriously this girl has issues with that big time, wait till Judy joins. Karol scratched his cheek with his fingers embarrassingly, "I-I don't have a dirty mind…it's just, you surprised me." Aw he was so precious, I was never gonna stop gushing on that enough.

"I wonder if the lack of sun drives the people here to do shady things…Like stealing blastia cores," Yuri said watching Karol struggle in my arms amusingly. I thought on that for a moment, "You know, that's a possibility." We all nodded to one another, I let go of Karol and we all began walking up the slope to the front gates of Aspio. As Estelle walked up ahead, the knights guarding the gates stopped her, "May I see your passport, please?" Estelle had a look of confusion and worry, "Our…passport?"

"This is an Imperial facility. We can't just let anyone inside, can we?" the second knight walked over kinda menacingly. "We haven't left the continent or empire yet, why do we need passports seriously…identification yes I could understand, but passports? " I said aloud. "Passport? You don't have one of those, do you?" Karol asked Yuri. Yuri just waved it off and walked up to the knight, "An associate of ours is inside. Could you please let us through?" I almost fell over, hearing Yuri say the magic word was too much for my poor brain, I thought the end was upon us.

"If you filled out the official visitation paperwork, then you ought to have gotten your passport from this 'associate' of yours," the knight continued. "This is the first we've heard, though. If you won't let us in, perhaps you could call him to the gate for us?" Yuri asked the knight. "What's your associate's name?" the other knight asked. "Mordio," Yuri just said plainly, but boy did that hit them. "M-Mordio?!" the second knight shouted as he and his partner exchanged glances; the others looked lost, but I knew why the knights were panicking.

"W-we can't help you. You'll need to mail in a request and have a passport officially issued to you," the second knight chimed up, his pitch upped a level possibly at the request Yuri made. "Damn, don't budge an inch, do you?" Karol said mainly to himself, but the knight caught wind of it and raised his halberd. Karol darted behind Yuri and me, and I gave the knight a look of 'Touch one hair on his head and I'mma fuck you up'. Estelle was supposed to say something, but she didn't speak up, and so the knight sneered, "Just all talk, eh?" I glared at him, "I'm not in the mood today, back off on him or else." The knight turned to me, "Or else what?" The look on my face said everything, my poker face didn't help the knight either, but I still decided to voice my thoughts, "Or else I'mma tear your eyeballs out and piss in the sockets, or maybe I'll castrate you and shove it all up your ass since the stick up there ain't doing you no good." (God damn I love Kaine so much right now.) The knight visibly stiffened and backed up still maintaining post, but putting distance between me and Karol. The others including the other knight's eyes (If you could see them in the helmet slits) looked like they'd fall out of their heads, Karol even sweatdropped, but still stayed in his spot.

"Uhm, excuse me, but did a knight by the name of Flynn happen to stop by here?" Estelle finally spoke up after recovering form hearing my threat to the knight. "All information about the establishment is classified. We cannot share even small details with outsiders," the first knight said recovering from hear the threat I put on his partner. "So you can't even tell me why Flynn was here?" Estelle asked. "NO, of course not," the knight said finally regaining composure. "…So what you're saying…is that Flynn really did come here!" Estelle said happily after her little mind trick. The knight began to panic, "I-I don't know who you're talking about! A knight named Flynn? N-never heard of him!" Estelle wasn't dissuaded, "Could we at least leave him a message?"

Yuri already sensing the situation walked over to Estelle, "Give it up, Estelle. We'd have more luck asking a brick wall for help." With that he turned and began walking away but he turned into the second fork in the path, "Let's just go," Yuri said to us. We quickly ran after him, Estelle began to pout once more, "But Flynn's inside…" That seemed to make Karol pout too, "What, we're just going to give up?" This riled up Estelle now that she had a supporter, "I'm not going to give up! I'm going to see Flynn!" Yuri was now riled up as well, "And I'm going to take back that blastia from that thief Mordio, and give him a beating he won't forget." Karol's lightbulb popped quickly, "So can't we look for another way in?" Yuri looked amused, "Of course we can. Let's take a stroll around, why don't we? As a last resort, maybe we could go over the walls."

"Heeeyyyy~, Children, you'll be left behind if you don't hurry up~, there's a nice backdoor over here~," I called from the end of the road causing them to look startled at us and quickly run up to us. Kairi was crouched down staring at a hopping turnip with a smiley face, each hop seemed to make her giggle more. The others finally managed to catch up to us and looked at the turnip as well, "What is that?" Estelle asked.

Before anybody could pipe up, Kairi poked it which filled the area with a cloud of smoke and a bam, before us wasn't a turnip anymore, but THE WONDER CHEF! Tossing his glasses aside like a boss, he turned to us, "Ke ke ke…Ah Ha ha ha ha ha ha, At last! Someone found me! I've been waiting!" He paused after Yuri's blade was on his throat, he was positioned in front of Kairi who was now on her bum staring incredulously at the Wonder Chef, Estelle, Karol and I; Yuri was probably thinking he was going to hurt us after his mad laughter (Blame Zagi man, blame Zagi). I put my hand on Yuri's shoulder letting him know it was ok, and he pulled back his sword after seeing this guy panicking like crazy, "Who are you? Why were you a turnip?" Yuri asked him. "I'm Wonder Chef!" the Wonder Chef said regaining his cool, "I travel the world far and wide, seeking gourmet food and travelers that appreciate the importance of fine dining. You'll usually find me in disguise. A food connoisseur should have no problem seeing through it though. Call it a test if you will."

He turned to Kairi, "And it seems like you're one of them! Hehe…you've got potential. For that, I'm going to reward you with a recipe!" With that he put a scroll in Kairi's hands with unreadable words on it, though I knew it was Salisbury steak…I could feel my mouth watering now. "I'll give you this so you can practice!" he then handed Kairi a brown paper bag containing 3 sets of ingredients for Salisbury steak. "For the love of food! Bon appetit! Bwah ha ha ha ha ha ha!" And with that he vanished in another explosion of smoke causing us to stare blankly wondering…what just happened…best not to think about it too much…

Yuri wiggled the handle of the door Kairi and I found, "Doors like this never open when you want them to!" He was getting frustrated and turned and walk a bit away from us possibly to silently internally vent. Estelle quickly smiled, "I guess we'll have to climb over the wall and open it from the inside." I sweatdropped, "Well that escalated quickly…" Kairi just giggled. "A little quick to jump to our last resort, aren't you?" Yuri said to us amused. I noticed Karol moving to pick the lock and I just watched him as I listened to Estelle and Yuri talk.

"Let's wait for Flynn to come out, then," Estelle suggested as she walked in front of Yuri to face him. "Even if Flynn comes out, it's not like he's going to bring Mordio out with him," Yuri said (Logical thinking there.) "Well if Flynn comes outside, we can just ask him to let us in, can't we?" Estelle asked. "He'd never go for a plan like this. He's far too much of a goody-goody," Yuri argued. "Wow, sounds like this Flynn guy is boring as fudge," I said aloud, hearing a beep and a click, Karol had unlocked the door.

"Karol, what are you doing?" Estelle asked cautiously. "There, it's open!" Karol said proudly, I ruffled his hair in praise much to his dislike. "Huh…? Y-You can't do that!" Estelle panicked. Yuri just stared at Karol with wide eyes and surprise that the kid could pick a lock, "…Your guild specializes in hunting monsters, right? Or are you guys into thieves' guild-type stuff, too?" Karol wasn't discouraged with me still ruffling his hair, "Heh, umm, yeah… Well, I'm pretty much the only one who can do anything like this." I glomped him from behind again, "A little handyman, so precious~" He flailed a little but said nothing, guess he was slowly growing accustom to it or just giving up on fighting.

"Well, good job! Shall we?" Yuri praised him and asked Kairi and me who raised our hands in unison, "Yay!" Karol was now panicking a little as I let him go and Kairi and I waited for Yuri by the door. "No, that's bad! We should just wait here for Flynn," Estelle angry stated. I plainly stared at her, "And what if he's not here?" She looked a little taken aback, but Yuri seemed to soak in the possibility, "I don't have the patience to wait for Flynn to just happen to walk out of this town by chance. It was unquestioning obedience to laws and authority in times like this that made me quit the Imperial Knights in the first place!" I nodded and Kairi patted Yuri on the back with a soft smile, "Good on you. Empires, seriously I don't like them, not in history class and certainly not here."

Estelle looked lost, "But, but…" Yuri turned to her with his amused smirk, "Well then, Estelle, keep a lookout for us here, won't you?" Kairi waved with a smile as I waved with an evil smirk, "Bye bye~" Her face turned to the expression of like a hurt girlfriend who had her boyfriend pulled away from her on a date by his female friends which soon warped to frustration with a pinch of jealousy, "Wait, but, but, umm…! I-I'm going with you!"

We entered into the building, which just hit you with the scent of books! It was kinda gloomy dark too, which made me stick close and clutch onto Yuri's sleeve, to which he didn't protest thankfully. "Man, there are a lot of Mordio look-alikes here, aren't there?" Yuri said to us looking around. I raised an eyebrow, "How are we supposed to know? We never saw him," I brought up looking at Yuri oddly, he just waved it off. Estelle walked over to a guy fixated on a book, "Excuse me, do you have a minute?" The guy looked bored, but his tone and expression changed a little as though realizing Estelle was a girl, "W-what do you want?" She smiled a bit him and asked, "Would you happen to know if a knight named Flynn Scifo has come through here?"

He looked in thought for a second then looked away, his expression back to boredom of not being Estelle's interest, "Flynn? Ohh, that guy, he was saying something about going to catch someone who'd been vandalizing ruins…" At that Estelle covered her mouth in surprise, "Where is he now?!" (Good grief, stalking fan girl much…) The guy returned his attention to his book, "I couldn't say. My research keeps me too busy to pay attention to things like that." Estelle looked sad at that news, "I-I see…I'm sorry to interrupt you." The guy was so focused on his book I had to wonder how he doesn't fall on the stairs, or how any of these guys do it really, "I'll be taking my leave, then."

"Hey, wait up. Tell me one more thing," it was Yuri's turn interrogating him now, "Is there a famed mage named Mordio around here?" The guy was so shocked it looked like he might have a heart attack as he turned around to face us, "Ack! There are people who want to see that weirdo?!" I sighed, "Another weirdo," counting Kairi and myself we had plenty of weirdos in this party, time to make it a trio! Yuri smirked at the guy's comment, "So, I was right. You know Mordio?" The guy huffed and regained his composure, "…No, uh, I don't know anything at all. I don't associate with people like that…" I glared a little, sure Rita was an oddball, but she was a child, give her a break, kids can get away with being weird!

As the guy turned to run up the stairs, Yuri quickly grabbed him by his hoodie making him drop his book, "Hey, I'm not done yet!" The guy began to panic and shout, "What! What is it!" Yuri loosened his hold as the guy regained his balance and was certain he wouldn't run off again, "Tell me where the mage is!" The guy turned away from us all, "Mordio lives alone in a shack back that way. Go and see for yourself f you want!" Yuri bent down and picked up the guy's book, "Thanks," and he handed the guy his book to take off.

"Are you sure about this?" Karol asked Yuri curiously. "Hmm?" Yuri turned to Karol, lost as to what he was getting at. "Everyone seems to get out at all out of sorts just from hearing that guy's name. It's weird," Karol brought up. "Yeah, doesn't it bother you?" Estelle agreed, Kairi looked in thought and I just pretended to ignore the comment not wanting to cause suspicions with a strange reaction since I was having a hard time not trying to speak. "Well, he's a blastia thief. It's no wonder people don't like him," Yuri said as a matter of factly. "Could that be the only reason though?" I chirped out accidentally which got Yuri's attention, "What do you mean?" I looked a bit shocked that he heard me and I just shrugged, "Dunno, just saying there might be more than meets the eye to this guy if his name causes people to react like that. What though I dunno, wish I could have that kinda influence, hehe." Yuri just sweatdropped, "I think you got that attitude plenty enough, let's go." To Rita's house we go~.

* * *

-*- An Ex-Knight -*-

Karol: You know, Yuri… Your attitude, your behavior, they don't seem very…knightly.

Liana: Yeah, you're right, but he is an ex-knight…

Yuri: Where'd that come from?

Karol: I mean, we're entering the city through a back entrance, like thieves…

Liana: There is that too… *mutters to self* but….

Yuri: This coming from the guy who picked the lock…

Estelle: I'm just tagging along to find Flynn…and now you've turned me into a thief!

Yuri: ! We haven't stolen anything! Sheesh.

Liana: *smirks**muttering to self* Big brother Yuri is more a knight in heart than most.

Kairi: *giggle* True.

Yuri: ?

* * *

Before we headed out of the building I stopped at the fortunes market with the others. I saw the new weapons and felt like getting them, we had enough gald for it…or did we? Gald isn't like dollars and quarters, I'd have to learn currency. "Say Yuri…" I called to Yuri. He walked up looking a bit confused, "What's up?" I clapped my hands together pleadingly and in a begging voice asked, "Can you teach me how to pay with Gald, please? I want to buy the ingredients and supplies we need." He looked lost for a second until the little light bulb in his head popped on, "Oh right, Kairi, come over here, I gotta show you something." Kairi looked up a bit flustered from staring at the armors, she walked over as he had asked.

"So what are we gonna get?" Yuri asked. "Ummm…first, how much gald do we even have?" I replied back with a question. He looked through the bag we had, "We got about 6,700 gald, with all the fighting you made us do." I sighed in relief, "Well, thank god that paid off in more ways than one…weird how the monsters carry gold, reminds me of…." He raised an eyebrow and I shook my head and smiled at him before turning to the clerk, "Excuse me, I'd like to buy that axe, the hammer, 5 pieces of beef, 5 onions, 5 rice, 10 of those red gels, 10 of the orange looking gels, and I'd like to try my hand at synthesis please."

Yuri's eyes just about popped out of his head with the amount I ordered, "Whoa, why do we need the axe and hammer? And you want to synthesize? Why?" I poutily looked at him a bit of a glare due to hormones kicking in, "One: You broke Karol's sword I think the hammer can come in handy for him! Two: We need food and I'll cook! Three: The axe looks like it can be good for cutting wood though if it has one of those skill things that guy in Deidon mentioned you're free to have a go with it. Four: ….those gel things come in handy during fights I've seen…though I've never taken one. FIVE! SYNTHESIS SOUNDS LIKE ALCHEMY! I WANNA TRY~!"

"Alcha-what? Still though….hmmm? You weren't nearby when the guy started discussing about weapon skills…how did you…," he looked at me oddly. I deadpan stared at him, "Do not underestimate my ears since they make up for my eyes…" He rubbed the back of his neck and sighed in defeat, "Alright. We'll take what she just said." The clerk handed us the items I requested to start, "That will be 5,765 gald please." I watch Yuri who began explaining to us about gald and how much was what as he handed me and Kairi the gald in hand to pay the clerk who was giving Kairi and me odd looks. The lady then turned to me and returned her killer selling smile, "What would you like to synthesize. Depending on what it is you plan to try synthesizing, the price may vary if you succeed." I nodded and pulled out a few Wolf Fangs and Ilyccia Weeds, "What can I make with this and how much will it cost?" The clerk looked so happy, she knew she was about to get some money, "Why you can make a Rapier with 1 fang and 1 weed, for 325 gald~." I blinked in (fake) surprise, "Wow, I'll try to make two."

Yuri almost fell over, "Hey, we can't be spending so much on-." I cut him off my raising up my gald pouch with the Mario coin on it, I had been secretly saving any gald I got from my kills as well as the 350 gald I snuck from the treasure chests in the sewers, "I believe I have 834 gald, I have enough for them on my own." He looked surprised, but waved it off and let me have my fun.

With 2 tries, and 650 gald, I had my two Rapiers, one which I gave to Yuri. He looked a bit taken aback, "Huh? Why're you giving it to me?" I smiled, "Because you use swords, plus it's kinda a thank you for taking care of Kairi and me this long." He turned away, "3 days isn't what you should consider long," though he accepted the Rapier knowing full well I wasn't going to take no for an answer. I handed the other Rapier to Estelle who tried to give me a hug of death, good thing I know how to dodge, meanwhile, Karol was giving his new hammer test swings.

* * *

-*- Lots of Books -*-

Karol: This city sure has a lot of books.

Yuri: I'm not really too crazy about reading. I'm gonna have a hard time sleeping in this place.

Liana: Me too, I always got poor grades for my Reading and Writing in classes…though, you plan to sleep here? You're weirder than us…and I'm the alien.

Yuri: !

Karol: Yeah. You seem too jittery to sit still and look at something for too long.

Yuri: You're one to talk.

Liana: He's a kid. He can get away with it. You on the other hand…

Yuri: !

Karol: Hey, what happened to Estelle?

Kairi: Well she asked me to read some books with her, but…

Yuri: She's been over there reading books ever since we got here.

Estelle: …

Karol: Estelle! Time to get going!

Estelle: …

Yuri: Once she starts reading, you can't pull her away.

Estelle: Huh? Did you say something? This seems to be literature from an ancient civilization!

Yuri: She's not even listening.

Estelle: …

Liana: Let me do it. Hey! Pink Prissy Bimbo! We're going!

Yuri & Karol: !

Estelle: Huh? What? Oh, right, I'm coming.

Kairi:….She didn't even hear the bimbo part I bet…

Yuri: Uh huh….

* * *

As we walked into the center of Aspio, I found it rather impressive…until you get to that shitty makeshift bridge to Rita's low grade shack… seriously, for a genius, couldn't she have been given better? "Keep Out. Seriously. -Mordio." Estelle read the front sign out loud. (I forgot….we're gonna have to learn to read to….which means lessons from Estelle…) I inwardly groaned, finding that thought so irritating. "I guess this is the place…," Yuri said walking up to the door and trying to open it, only to find it locked and he resorted to knocks.

Estelle looked lost a bit, "I think people usually try knocking first…" Karol piped up at the sight, wondering if he was gonna be needed, "Looks like no one's home. What should we do?"

"No point in hesitating when you're heading into a den of thieves," Yuri said as he began backing up, preparing to ram the door, or Azure Edge it, which I don't know as Estelle stopped him, "No. I don't want us to commit any more crimes." I rolled my eyes, "Boring and lame. We've already broken into the city, what's the harm in at least reaching our destination?" Karol jumped in excitement, "I guess that means it's my turn, then." I pet Karol's foofy hair, "Go get it, Tiger!" Estelle looked appalled, "What…? Your 'turn'…?" Karol just giggled at my praise and walked up to the door inspecting it.

Estelle was getting more upset, "We shouldn't do that either! Liana, you shouldn't encourage him!" I frowned, "I'm encouraging him to use his talent and skills, not be ashamed of them, I see nothing wrong with it." A click could be heard and Karol walked up to us proudly, "Nothin' to it." Kairi giggled and pet his hair as I glomped him again, "So precious~!" He flailed a bit but soon rubbed his neck in embarrassment as Yuri began to walk past us inside, "Wait for us!" Karol shouted as we all chased Yuri inside except for Estelle who was still against this idea, "Please wait! Why do they always do that…?"

Books…. Books galore is what we found, piled high, thrown around, and blastia on the ground...this was messier than in the game, I had to watch my footing so I wouldn't fall. "This is crazy…Who could live in a place like this?" Karol asked looking around. I couldn't read a single title, and all the Vesperianese was making my eyes hurt. "You can pretty much live anywhere you can eat and sleep, if you set your mind to it," Yuri answered checking out the blastia and around to find the Aque Blastia.

"Yuri, don't you have something to say first?" Estelle shouted from the doorway, refusing to step inside. Yuri just sweatdropped, "Uh…Hello? We're coming in." Estelle wasn't pleased still, "And the door?" Yuri just parroted his words, "Karol here opened your door. Sorry 'bout that."

Estelle puffed, "Honestly, Yuri…Excuse us, is anyone home?" I had a headache already and my period wasn't making this any better, "Oh my god, seriously Estelle, I don't care, so stop with getting your panties in a wad already!" Estelle looked surprised, "P-panties in a wad?" I put my hands on my hips, "It means stop getting so damn emotional and upset at trivial things as if your panties wadded up between your butt cheeks!" Estelle was too stunned to say a word in reply, Karol childishly snickered at the mention of butts, while Kairi turned to hide her giggles, and Yuri sighed in the background probably fixing to try to talk to me tonight about 'taking it easy on the little princess', believe me…I am going easy, he rather I drop F bombs on her instead?…On my period I probably could easily.

"Well, it's a good thing no one's here. That means we get to look for evidence," Yuri said, his tone changing from slight annoyance to his usual carefree nature. "I call dibs on up the ladder!" I shouted as I climbed over books to get to the ladder and began climbing upstairs, I wanted to see what was in Rita's drawer big time! Thankfully I didn't climb over Rita, I went up the ladder to find….more mess, ugh, my room looks like a castle compared to this. I smirked and walked up to her dresser beside her bed (HEHEHE FINALLY, the secret to the infamous drawer shall be mine!) I opened the drawer in a flash and I froze…..magazines…..magazines of…..no there was more than just one type of magazine….there was magazines for almost any kink you could find with lesbian themed play…or think of….and some on…Blastia? Adult use blastia….hot blastia? Blastia in the Nude? At least judging by the front page that's what I had to guess since I couldn't read… What is this?!….she even had a….a blastia….dildo? ...Is that what that is…it has to be right? …or maybe it's… something else? I shut the drawer, scarred for life, not at the Blastia dildo thing…..but those magazines will haunt my dreams for life. On the upside…I had blackmail material, haha, I could be so evil.

I climbed down the ladder and carefully crawled over books to the others, "Nothing upstairs." I didn't bother searching since I knew Rita doesn't have it anyways. Kairi turned to me smiling a bit since she probably sensed my discomfort earlier, "We didn't find anything here either." Suddenly Repede crouched down and began growling at the pile of books I crossed over, just as a hooded figure popped out from the books catching everyone's attention. Karol fell on his bum in his shock, "Gyaaah! Wh-wh-what is that?!" I shrugged helplessly, "It's a hooded person, what else?" I answered Karol. He got up and quickly hid behind Yuri and Kairi, so I don't count as protection…kinda stings a little.

"…Shut up…" the figure spoke to us irritated and began charging up a spell. Yuri quickly pulled Kairi away towards were Repede was hiding, leaving Karol to be a deer caught in the headlights. "Huh? Hey, hold on!" Karol said looking over at Yuri and Kairi and back to Rita. "Thieves…" Rita began as the walls and books began to rattle, seriously, why was Karol just standing there? "No, what're you…Wait!" Karol shouted shielding himself….he was such a little dork. "…Be gone!" Rita shouted as she launched a fireball at Karol. "Heeelp!" Karol shouted, and I ran from my hiding spot behind the books to grab his arm and pull him against my chest away tumbling to the side from the explosion.

We both coughed from the smoke, "*Hack**cough* That was close," Karol said. I firmly thumped him on the head, "Ow. What was that for?" Karol asked poutily. I sternly gazed at him, "You don't stand still in a situation like that! What if you got hurt or worse?! What if the time comes and I'm not there to help you that time?" He looked up at me with wide eyes, processing my words, "I-I'm sorry. I-I promise it won't happen again…" I smiled and rubbed his hair and I hugged him tight, "If you get it then good job!" He began flailing and protesting a bit again; however, Kairi looked worried, "Liana…" I realized what she was getting at, in the game Karol was supposed to be hit….but it's not like it was a MAJOR key part of the game...hell it's not even a key at all, nothing wrong with sparing him from pain. "We're good, it's ok," I assured her, in which she sighed in relief.

"A g-girl?!" Estelle gasped surprised as she came out from her hiding spot behind the door, yup, Rita's hood came off. Yuri pulled out the Rapier and held it at the side of Rita's head, "If you can pull tricks like that, why'd you bother skipping town back in Zaphias?" I had to wonder about Yuri sometimes, he can recall things from far back, but he can't remember buck teeth and whiskers, must've thought it was a disguise 'Mordio' wore to trick him. Rita turned a bit to face him and sass him back, "Huh? Skipping town? Why would I need to skip town?" Yuri still wasn't buying it, "For stealing the core of a blastia from the lower quarter in the capital. What else?"

Kairi sighed and scratched behind Repede's ears who was very chill about now, you'd think Yuri would notice Repede's not uptight about Rita, but for now…gotta let him believe so we can go to Shaikos and have her join us! "What? You're calling me a thief. Have you ever heard of "common sense"?" Rita asked Yuri. Repede just yawned, so bored with this shit he was. "Sure," Yuri responded. "So you break into a home, call the owner a thief, and wave a sword in their face. What the hell kinda sense is that?!" Rita said getting more upset by the minute (Welcome to Yuri Lowell Logic haha).

Repede moved out from Kairi's affection to further investigate Rita, "Hey, dog! You stay back, you…you dog!," Rita said flipping out a bit. He stopped staring at her once he was sure she wasn't 'Mordio'. Rita turned to Karol and me who were still on the floor, "And you! Kid! Give him back!" Karol looked confused, "What do you mean?" That certainly didn't settle with her, she extended her arm, "The blastia, the blastia! Give him back to me!" I noticed a blastia in Karol's hand and sighed, I could see her calling these blastia 'my precious'….or was that what she named her dildo? I inwardly snickered at that.

Estelle came out from behind the door, walked up to Rita, and bowed politely. "W-what's with you?" Rita asked her irritably (And here Yuri thinks I'm harsh with her…it'll take time) . "My name is Estellise, We're terribly sorry for barging in on you like this! …Yuri, Karol, Liana, Kairi, you too," Estelle said politely until she demanded we apologize. "S-sorry," Karol said lowering his head as he got up. Kairi looked flustered, unsure of whether to apologize or not, "I-I'm sorry too." I looked up with an 'I don't give a fuck' look, "I ain't regretting what I did, I do what I decide to do, not sorry for it." Yuri smirked at that while Estelle looked defeated, she turned to Yuri to have him apologize, waiting, but he just turned away a bit not caring.

"So…? What do you want?" Rita asked a bit more calm now. "Well, you see… Yuri has followed a blastia thief here all the way from the imperial capital," Estelle explained to her, excluding anything on Karol, Kairi, and I, along with herself. "And?" Rita exclaimed, wondering just what that had to do with her. "And that blastia thief… Wore a cape! Was short! And their name was Mordio! So…," Yuri pointed out waiting on a response. "If you just think of that, she fits the bill….but I thought this Mordio was a guy," I said to myself mainly as I stood up brushing myself off. "Hmm, well Mordio is certainly my name. Rita Mordio, to be exact," Rita sassed (Ah, I wanna listen to Mambo Number 5 now…). "And the height matches up, too," Karol said. I sweatdropped, "You there to see how tall they were? How do you know it does?" Karol just smiled and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and I was tempted to hug him again.

"What do you have to say for yourself?" Yuri asked with an accusing tone. "I told you, I have no idea what you're…," Rita then placed her fingers to her chin in thought, "…Oh, I hadn't thought of that," she turned to Yuri and commanded, "Follow me." Yuri looked upset as Rita began walking away, "What? Maybe you didn't hear me. We're not finished here…" Rita just swung around, now getting irritated, "Just follow me, would you? There's talk that some thieves have turned up in the Shaikos Ruins." Didn't that just click with Yuri, he was both curious and suspicious still, "Thieves? Are you sure about that?" Rita walked passed Estelle, Karol, Kairi and I behind the giant crystal pillar that basically this shack was either built around or pierced by, to get dressed. "It came from an Imperial Knight who asked me for help. It should be trustworthy," Rita stated (Wow, Flynn came straight to the BEST mage first, nice).

That thought got me thinking… (The First Strike, when Niren and Chastel went to see Rita… did Chastel ever tell Flynn about Rita? Is that why Flynn came to Rita first? Although, who says she was first. Though Niren did hear she was the best and went to her, also, he also sent request for reinforcements to Alexei himself, 'the top/best'). I smiled a bit, in some ways Niren rubbed off on Flynn even though Niren was more a father figure to Yuri than Flynn.

"Do you think that knight might have been Flynn?" Estelle whispered low to us and Yuri who walked closer to hear better; Kairi and I joined the pair. "…It's gotta be. Looks like she shot him down, though," Yuri pitched in. "Shot down before the first date, that's gotta be mortifying," I nodded, to which everyone just sweatdropped. Karol joined in our huddle, "Hey, remember what that guy outside said about someone vandalizing ruins?" Estelle gasped, the light bulb going off, "Which means, the thief who stole the blastia core could be there." Yuri looked in thought, "Hmm, maybe…" I inwardly sighed, it should be obvious she's not the thief by now, there are so many things that prove she's not, but the story must go on.

Rita came out from behind the pillar, her awesome in-game familiar red attire put on, "Finished chatting? Let's go." Yuri seemed to have calmed down a bit, but he still suspected her, "All right, but don't even think of making a break for it." Rita was unfazed by his warning and warned right back, "You don't have to come. If you want, I'll just call the guards." Uh, that didn't sound like fun, "Why don't we give it a try? It sounds like Flynn might even be there," Estelle mentioned. I sighed, as if that was gonna motivate Yuri, "Plus, I doubt you'd want to be caught before you can get that core back to the lower quarter."

"It's up to you: Go to jail, make a run for it, or follow me. Pick one," Rita sassed, she had a point. I raised my hand quickly, "Follow you! Going to jail is not in my plans, and I see no reason to really make a run for it, plus following you doesn't hurt us, though I can't say 100% it'll help us, but my gut is saying it will! And I trust my gut! (More like I trust my future knowledge….mostly…didn't help me back in Deidon…)" Kairi raised her hand also, "I'll go too… we may find a clue or two on how to get home perhaps…maybe…hopefully…I mean….it'd be nice…," she began to slowly deflate and her enthusiasm dropping to despair. Yuri sighed feeling defeated at us 3 girl's decision vs just him alone, since Karol was thinking still, "Okay, okay. We'll go with you."

Rita turned towards the door, "The Shaikos Ruins are even further to the east, once you leave the city." I kinda tilted my head in confusion, it was like she was giving us directions to get there as though she expected us to go alone and not follow her…I mentally slapped myself reminding myself that this was IN-GAME dialogue…this was meant to tell the players where to set Yuri to run to…but hearing it while in this reality was very odd and confusing…though, that would explain why Yuri kept repeating himself at Halure…

* * *

-*- Rita -*-

Karol: Rita's a little scary, huh?

Estelle: Really?

Yuri: She's about what I'd expect. Seems like she's in a crappy mood, too.

Estelle: That's because you broke into her house, Yuri!

Liana: I thought it was because she's a Tsundere.

Estelle: Huh? Tsundere?

Liana: Not gonna start…

Yuri: I don't exactly feel like being on my best behavior when I'm dealing with a core thief.

Kairi: Umm….But…

Karol: What will you do if you're wrong about her?

Yuri: If I'm wrong I'll apologize.

Rita: *pops out of nowhere* You'd better remember that when the time comes.

Yuri: !

Karol: ! Oh, were you listening?

Rita: I just happened to overhear. So you think I'm a scary, do you? *walks off*

Yuri: Watch it, Karol. She's definitely the kind to hold a grudge.

Karol: H-hey! D-don't scare me like that!

Liana: At least she didn't hear my Tsundere comment….explaining that would be a pain right now…

* * *

-*- Call me Estelle -*-

Rita: Your name is Estellise, right?

Estelle: Yes, but that's kind of long to say easily. Please, call me Estelle.

Rita: The three of you look like some fancy nobles, if one of you wasn't shredded up a bit and the other with no shoes. Why are you with that jerk?

Yuri: !

Estelle: …Oh, I think that Yuri is a good person…Wait…no shoes? Shredded up?

Liana: Hey! An Axe Beak caught me off guard and I got a beating from an Eggbear, cut me some slack! Though, I won't lie, I'm not a noble (But Kairi is royalty…in a way…).

Kairi: …

Yuri: ! Kairi, you have no shoes?

Estelle: I never noticed cause her two dresses just about go to the floor. Why didn't you say anything? I could have let you borrow a pair of shoes from my closet! The floor in the castle surely must have been cold, and the pavement in Zaphias hot...and-and the rocks in Deidon Hold! *panicking*

Kairi: Oh, I-I'm used to it. Really! I'm fine, it's no problem at all.

Liana: Yeah, when we were little, we were always barefooted, so being barefoot now ain't a problem, in fact my feet are so calloused I hardly feel anything on them….though….hot pavement is a no-no for me as well as frigid cold.

Estelle: Oh….well if you say so, and really Rita, I don't mind if you called me Estelle.

Rita: All right, Estellise. *leaves*

Yuri: She's tough…

* * *

-*- Proof of Innocence -*-

Yuri: Pretty quick to follow her, weren't you?

Liana: Yup. My guts saying she's innocent, but if she feels like she has to clear her name, so be it.

Yuri: And what makes you so sure she's not the thief? She just admitted her name is Mordio.

Liana: So? What if the thief lied about their name, who would be stupid enough to use their real name to commit a crime?

Yuri: Someone diabolical enough to think that someone wouldn't think that they were using their real name.

Liana: You just twisted my brain there *sigh* and my gut is telling me she's innocent!

Yuri: ! That doesn't prove anything!

Liana: When you explained to us at the castle of your situation, you said this 'Mordio', was male.

Yuri: So, she could have been wearing a mask.

Liana: We searched her house, and we found not even a gleam of the core.

Yuri: She could have it in a secret compartment hidden in her house.

Liana: Repede, who is the canine with scents stored in his memories and has 'Mordio' in storage, wasn't on guard, aggressive, or uptight after getting a closer look and smell of her.

Yuri: ! Well….That…I can't argue a point on that one…Man, I might have to think on how to apologize after this.

Liana: Haha. Give it a few more years, one day you'll be able to give this old girl here a point or two on your own in an argument. For now, we'll just follow her and see if we can find our thief, or get a clue there.

Yuri: *defeated look* …Right…

* * *

Before we could leave, Yuri wasn't satisfied with his search below, and deemed it necessary to check upstairs himself as we all followed him, Rita hot on his tail. "Huh? What's this?" Yuri asked Rita as he was looking through a book he found as we made it up top. Rita sighed in relief, probably happy he didn't see in her drawer, "Oh, the Collector's Book! It's a self-updating book that makes it easy to record all of the items you find."

"Ooo, that sounds awesome, wish I had one of these at home, but for lectures in college and not items," I said wishfully, man would it come in handy if it existed! Yuri looked curious now, "A self-updating book…huh? I guess I'll just have to look and see what you mean…" Rita shrugged, "Sure, that would work, too. It's extremely useful to have. Let's take it with us." Yuri skimmed to the next page and his eyes widened before smirking, "Huh? Hey, get a load of this! Most of the pages are blank… Are you sure you're a world-renowned researcher?" Rita looked like she wanted nothing more than to punch his lights out.

After a good look around, Yuri waltzed over to her dresser, "It takes a pretty wicked person to lie so convincingly about her crimes." Rita quickly was alerted and began to panic, "Hey! Wait!"

Estelle took up her defense, "A girl's dresser is strictly off-limits!" Oh boy was she in for a shock, I'll just let her discover it all.

"Even if it's full of evidence of her own misdeeds?" Yuri asked her seriously wanting to check it.

"I'll be the one to look," Estelle responded seriously back. Yuri moved out of the way to allow Estelle access to the drawer, Kairi alongside her (RIP Kairi…). Rita who had relaxed in relief at Estelle stopping Yuri, was now in panic of Estelle and Kairi looking in it, "Wait…what are you…!" Rita began to run over to stop her, but it was too late, the dresser opened, and the two were left with a sight to behold for the rest of their lives…

Downstairs after Yuri was now satisfied, Rita was red in the face big time. "Don't worry. I won't tell anyone," Estelle said to Rita. Kairi nodded, her face bright red, her head slightly spinning possibly from embarrassment.

"What do you think they found?" Karol asked Yuri curiously.

Yuri just smirked, "Feminine Secrets!"

I did my best not to laugh, but I fell to the floor laughing as Kairi fainted, this was too much!

"Hey! I'll get you back for that!" Rita shouted to Yuri.

Yuri turned to Estelle and a now passed out Kairi, "Estelle, Liana, Kairi, you'd better watch out."

Rita became fuming mad, "No, it's you I'm talking about! You!"

We waited for Kairi to come to, and we took our leave through the backdoor path we came through, out to Shaikos Ruins!

* * *

Ugh took me so long this time.

Caryn: I'll say…

Hey! Me, my mom, and my dad's birthdays are coming up…well my mom's is tomorrow… then my dad's is 3 days after that…then mine 3 days after that...then college begins 8 days after that...I've been busy working on my present for them, but the weather isn't cooperating…so my updates have been slow, and I'm waiting on my new parking permit for on campus parking, and on my professors to post up what books I gotta rent!

Caryn: Fine, I'll let you off the hook this once…You gonna do a birthday post?

Meh dunno, probably not till later in game since only 3 days has gone by in the game not weeks, but if there's gonna be a birthday special, it'll be posted in drabbles, not the main fiction. I've noticed not many people have seen the drabbles at all. The drabbles will become important for things as the story progresses mainly with Kairi's sides and others, so try to keep up with the drabbles also people. Also, one this main fiction is done, any further fun adds or stories will be in the drabbles.

Next time: Shaikos Ruins~ Yay will we reach the Goliath and fight it? Perhaps…Seriously I suck at fighting writing, switch around intentional XP


	11. 10: Tsundere and Ruins

I am still alive -.-; but just barely, college has been eating up my free time big time. The stupid projects just keep piling up (And it's all GROUP projects….so I can't get ahead…I hate working in Groups that wanna wait till the last minute….)

Please remember, ( ) parenthesis are thoughts, _italics are telepathic talk between me and Kairi_

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Tales of Vesperia, Justin, or Caryn. I DO have permission to use Justin and Caryn though. I OWN myself, Kairi, and my work in this fic.

* * *

We headed towards the Shaikos Ruins in awkward silence despite the many monsters we faced…and by we, I meant without Me or Kairi…

 _-*- Before leaving Aspio -*-_

"Kairi, Liana, come here a moment," Yuri called over to us in a whisper. The two of us looked puzzled as we walked over, "What up?"

"Listen, if we run into a monster, the two of you stand back, no fighting or healing, got it?" Yuri said strictly to us. "I mean it, with the fight with the Eggbear I'm grateful, but right now while we're travelling with Mordio, don't do ANYTHING to get her attention, especially when you two don't have a blastia on you," Yuri cut in when I opened my mouth.

I pouted, so he tells us not to fight and catch attention, yet says nothing to Estelle who can heal without a blastia, he knows about that from the castle. I smiled a little to myself, I had always wanted a big brother like this…compared to the reality of my Super Rarely Seen older brother on Earth, "…stupid, big brother, Yuri."

"Huh? Me? You say something?" Yuri said looking confused at my low whisper, but he at least made out his name.

I looked up at him, my face back to its plain, poker face look, "Nope. I'm good, we'll take a mini vacation from fighting then." Kairi merely nodded with a look of utter disappointment.

-*- _end_ -*-

* * *

Kairi and I were in thought on when to bust the Earth news to Rita since we didn't want to become experimental pets for her. Telling her right now would defer her from wanting to go to the ruins perhaps. Afterwards when she joins the party at Aspio seemed like a safer bet, since it would clear her name, she'd be a travel companion so any suspicions from Yuri wouldn't arise on why we were telling her. Plus, if I pulled out my phone out of the bag, she'd want to take it apart, and that was a No-No (Of course I'd have to remove all the Vesperia images, the Yuri case and strap, and all the *cough* R-18 Yaoi Drama CD tracks I placed in it *cough*).

* * *

-*- Dog Language -*-

Estelle: Repede's getting very good at handling items, don't you think?

Rita: Yeah. But I don't wanna eat any gels that've been in a dog's mouth!

Repede: *Woof!*

Yuri: He said, "Come on, don't be like that. If things go bad, take it!"

Rita: That's one big mouth he's – Wait a minute…Did he really say that? All I heard him do was bark.

Kairi: Actually, he said, "If you need a gel in pinch, get it yourself or don't complain!"

Yuri: !

Estelle: Really?

Rita: Y-you're just making that up! As if you guys know what he's saying!

Kairi: *deflates* But I'm not making it up…

Repede: *Grrr**Woof!**Woof!*

Liana: Now he's all riled up, I'd say apologize Rita, but that might be asking too much.

Rita: ! Apologize for what?

Yuri: Well, stick around long enough and you'll figure him out. Right, Repede?

Repede: *WOOF!**Nuzzles Kairi's leg as she scratches his ears*

Rita: ….

Estelle: You look a little jealous, Rita.

Rita: N-no way!

* * *

Once we entered the ruins, we all looked around completely amazed, except for Rita, she must come here a lot. Looking at the flowing Fountain and water trail reminded me of the fountains in front of Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, only not as large, but still grand and spectacular.

"These are the Shaikos Ruins," Rita explained as we kept our sightseeing of our surroundings.

"It looks like there aren't any Imperial Knights around," Estelle pouted a bit. Repede trotted closer sniffing the ground vigorously, as though a familiar scent had drawn him to them. I'm sure it was Flynn, but if Flynn had been here, how long ago was it and why didn't he catch our thief inside? Or did the thief hide or come in later? So many questions.

Karol walked over to check with Repede, "These footsteps are still fresh. There's a lot of them, too." Yuri looked in thought as Estelle walked over to investigate. "Which means it's either the Knights, the thieves, or both," Yuri said aloud.

"Some of these footprints must be Flynn's," Estelle said staring 'awkwardly' at the footprints. I visibly cringed as well as Kairi seemed a tad uncomfortable at that statement and Estelle's longing expression towards the footprints. "Could be," Yuri responded. I backed up beside him and whispered, "Yuri, I know this isn't the time, but…IF she's crushing on Flynn, aka your buddy, aka your pal, are you seriously going to support 'that'?" He tilted his head up in thought, closed his eyes for a few moments before turning to me, "I guess you got a point. She's like an over obsessed fan rather than a potential girlfriend for him." I nodded, "I feel sorry for poor Flynn…" Yuri just lightly chuckled.

"Hey, over here. Hurry up," Rita said to all of us from further ahead since we were all distracted. Yuri of course wasn't buying it and turned away, "I see. So first you get us alone in the dark, then you zap us, huh?" I flinched at 'alone in the dark', sensing that, Yuri just waved his hand at me in a calm 'forget I said that' way.

"…Hmm, "ZAP." I like the way that sounds…" Rita said kinda playfully. I smiled widely, "I'll take those chances. It can't be as bad as Kairi's electrotherapy, probably." (I wasn't kidding, Kairi has rank 1 Thunder and Lightning Rod, though her Lightning bolt and shockwave were a measly rank D, that wouldn't hurt as bad compared to the other 2 if you got hit...speaking of which…if she used Thunder or Fireball, would we all get hit? Or would it ignore us like how it is in the games where allies don't get hit? …..If it can hit us….lord forbid Kairi from using Meteor Strike….)

Karol looked between the two of us a bit uncomfortable now, "H-hey, what's that supposed to mean? Why are you smiling like that?" Estelle jumped in probably thinking I was starting a fight along with Yuri, or just trying to get Karol to settle a bit, "Let's try to get along now, okay?"

Everyone became sidetracked chasing me around as I just HAD to run off or turn at the slightest notice of treasure chests, albeit they kept yanking me away from them. As I pulled out a life bottle from the first chest I found, Estelle kept telling me to put it back, that it wasn't mine. "Hey Rita, does anyone in Aspio care if I take this?"

"Go nuts, just no taking any Blastia without my permission, got it?!" Rita said getting riled up at the thought of me taking away her precious. I merely saluted with a silly grin, "Aye aye Capitan!"

Sad to say my chest hunt ended there since Yuri wanted to find his thief without the added trouble of a missing member. With no one in sight, Yuri was becoming a tad irritated, "Looks like no one's here…No Imperial Knights, thieves, or anyone else!"

"Maybe they're further in?" Estelle asked looking up the stairs. I groaned as I stared at my mortal enemy, stairs…I hated them so much. Yuri turned at stared up them unamused as well, "How far in are we talking, here?"

"It doesn't look like anyone's been here, does it?" Karol told us as Yuri turned towards Rita, that 'I'm not amused' look still on his face. Rita however, was in thought, "The information about the underground couldn't have gotten out, could it?"

"The underground?" Estelle asked confused. Rita turned, she was still in thought but answered regardless, "Recently, an entrance to an underground area was uncovered here. A handful of mages are supposed to be the only people who know about it…"

Yuri leaned up on the wall near him, "But it's okay for us to know this?" Rita just turned away, "I don't have much choice if I'm to clear my name, do I?" The swordsman just took her walking frame in with suspicious eyes, "Clear your name, huh…."

I just jaunted over and gave Yuri a good ol' Gibb's slap upside the back of his head. "Ow, what the hell?" he gave me a bit of a glare, "What was that for, Liana?" I just stared at him plainly with no emotions, "For being stuuuuuuupppid…" (Stupid, awesome, big brother Yuri.) He could only give me a look like I was drunk or on drugs, or both (My period could drive me nuts).

"The ground is scratched here," Karol said catching our attention, he had moved beside Rita near the giant angel statue. "It's not like I would've minded letting the thieves have the ruins above ground after we finished the excavation, but it's a good thing we came here when we did," Rita said which earned a stupid look from me (Isn't the whole point of thievery to steal things? What's the point for a thief sneaking in to a place where the valuables were already taken?)

"Well then, we'd better hurry up and follow them. All we have to do is move this?" Karol asked earning a nod from Rita. He ran around the statue and began pushing against it as hard as he could, no budge, "*huff* *huff*"

To my surprise Yuri didn't budge to help him like he's supposed to right now, Kairi looked like she wanted to help, but Yuri's words rang in our ears 'don't do **ANYTHING** to get her attention'. I Gibb's slapped Yuri again, "Ow! Seriously, Liana, What is your problem?" I gave him a plain look with a tiny glare and whispered, "Help baby boy you dumb ass, or should I ask Kairi to blast it out the way?" He seemed to realize what I was getting at and sighed in defeat as he walked over to help Karol who was still struggling, "Come on. You have to put your shoulder into it." Karol could only look up at the older man huffing, "Um, r-right."

"Urgh…Huh…" Karol began pushing, and almost effortlessly the statue began moving….how strong was Yuri?! "Come on, just a little…more…" Yuri fussed as he gave a few more heaves to completely unblock the entrance. Karol just plopped on his butt near the statue trying to get air as Yuri kneeled down to examine the entrance.

"Karol, are you okay?" Estelle asked as he plopped down, probably wanting to 'heal' him (Don't think healing artes are meant for fatigue….or else Estelle will certainly overuse her power…) "S-sure, that was a cinch…*huff* *huff*"

"Okay, here we go," Rita said aloud to get our attention as she went in. Karol hopped up and began following, Yuri of course between all of us and Rita due to his suspicions of her. Once the tunnel became pitch black I grabbed onto the nearest thing which was Karol's head and squeezed it against my chest. "Gyaaagghhh! They're crushing me! Liana they're squeezing my head too tight!" Karol flailed about as his head became logged between my breasts and I had to apologize, "S-Sorry Karol, I-I-It's just too dark…." He stopped flailing as if sensing how scared I was and I felt him nod as if to say it was ok.

"You're scared of the dark? Please, that's like a little kid fear. How old are you anyways?" I heard Rita's high and mighty tone mock. I felt my eyebrow twitch, my period wasn't helping, I was about to slap my hands on Karol's ears (Screw Estelle's ears) to have a very colorful rant with her, screw that she was technically a child still, I'd teach her NEW words in a flash!

"She saw a demon with glowing red eyes when she was younger, that's what's up with her," Yuri said which earned him a glare from me, not that he could see it. "D-Demon? Haha, t-there's no such thing as D-D-Demons!" Rita stuttered out, I had almost forgotten her fear of ghosts which made me smirk, now, my turn to be sassy!

I tuned into a sinister voice, almost possessed sounding, "Oh, but I saw one and they truly exist, honest. He breathed down my neck just…like…this….*haaaa*" I blew air on Rita's ear causing her to shriek and her rushing footsteps could be heard, whether she went up or down I couldn't tell. "Happy now?" Yuri asked monotonously. "Very much so," I responded happily, and then we both got a stern lecture from Estelle on being adults.

Once it became bright at the end of the stairs, my internal question was answered, Rita ran upstairs. I looked around amazed, well as amazed as someone who looks at old broken down pieces of rock can be, I wonder how Sorey and Mikleo would feel being here. "This is my first time going inside ruins…" Estelle said wondrously looking about. "Mine too, back home no one's allowed in 'em but professionals," I spoke up.

As Estelle and Kairi wandered towards the edge where Karol and Repede were, Rita's voice boomed out as she finally made it back down the stairs, "Be careful over there. It's slippery." As Estelle looked toward her she turned away to catch Yuri's plain gaze, "What are you looking at?"

"I was actually surprised. You're actually a nice person," Yuri stated, his plain expression betraying those words. "*sigh* I knew it would be a pain to bring you along. I should've just come by myself," Rita fussed poutily. "Well if you're trying to clear your name, you'd need your accuser to see truth with his own eyes or else it's all pointless," I stated the obvious fact, earning that goofy Yuri grin that got me to snicker a bit. Rita just turned to walk ahead, ignoring my statement, must be pissed at me for my little scare back on the stairs.

"Do you always come to research these ruins alone?" Estelle asked full of shock. "Yeah," Rita replied simply. "Aren't you afraid you'll get hurt by monsters or traps?" Estelle kept pressing and I could tell Rita was getting a tiny bit irritated, "There are always risks if you're trying to actually do something. If someone gets hurt, it's an acceptable loss." Estelle looked shocked, but I felt myself twitch, I knew she was a loner, but still, those words….those words will come back to bite her ass when it's Estelle, her first friend who gets hurt, then will it be an acceptable loss?

"Even if you're the one who gets hurt?" Estelle asked worriedly. "Yeah," Rita replied plainly. "Don't you ever worry or hesitate?" Estelle fussed again, to be honest I just wanted her to shut up. "Worrying about getting what you want without anyone getting hurt? You've had a pretty easy life," Rita replied back mockingly, I felt myself twitch again. "An easy life…" Estelle said almost unbelievably. "And blastia will never betray me. So they're easy to deal with," Rita added.

I shook my head, my hormones couldn't take no more "Spoken like a true little brat who's got a lot to learn." She turned to me a bit angrily, "What'd you say?" I put both hand on my hips and walked over beside her as she backed up a bit, sensing my frustration, "You heard me, a little brat who has a lot to learn."

Rita curled up her fists in anger, "Wha-Just who do you think you are?!" I merely grinned, "I am Liana Banda, that's who I am, a 26 year old going on 27 with more experience in life than a famed genius does, can you believe that? In any case," my gaze turning from playfully sassy to serious when she opened her mouth, "I don't believe in the words NEVER, there's always a margin of error for such things, not that people are any better. Still, words like, it's acceptable if someone gets hurt, I bet you've never had to experience those words to their fullest before spouting crap like that."

Rita shook in anger fixing to open her mouth, but I cut in again, "How do I know? What do I know? That what you wanna say? Sweetheart, I can tell by the way everyone reacted to your name in that town that you're a loner, and your talk right now proves it, but that is NO excuse to think of people as mere things that can be tossed and used. People fall and get hurt when they try to do things TRUE, but to even think it's acceptable for someone else to get hurt for YOUR findings and or benefit is just shit, that would make you nothing more than scum. If others HAVE to be involved, you think about what can go wrong, you think of every possible angle despite some human error in calculations before jumping in. Though you're young, give it time, give it a chance, I believe in Karma, and one day you can understand the gravity of those words, and when they finally come back to bite you on your ass remember this, I'm going to ask you one question..." I looked up almost murderous, my hormones really ramping up, "Was it fucking worth it?"

She stared at me wide eyed, her anger turned to shock at a silent revelation, I felt I did my job and turned away, "Well, in any case we're not getting anywhere with just standing here arguing our viewpoints, so let's go before our thief manages to get out. Besides….I need to ask you something…" Rita sounded confused, "H-huh? Ask me what?" I frowned to myself, "If those words also come back to bite my ass, feel free to ask me that too…you've got the right to as well." To be honest….I had no right to say that stuff to her either….I knew Estelle would get hurt too….I can't do anything about that….I need things to take their course…those words…..was it worth it?...Yeah….If it means everyone will be safe at the end like I know they will….I'll take the bite and sting of those words as well. "You're weird," Rita said poutily as she walked by me to lead the way for us.

"Rita and Liana are amazing! They just come right out and say what they have to say," I heard Estelle cheer about. "Well, they know exactly what's important to them," Yuri said, which made me fidget a little uneasy due to my previous thoughts…..Yuri'd get stabbed at Zaude and fall….so many people were going to hurt…and all for an ending with everyone in the party alive and the world safe from the giant space octopus…I can't waver….

"I wish I knew what was important to me…" Estelle pouted. "Just travel around for a while. You'll figure it out," Yuri said. Estelle turned to look at him for a while before nodding and smiling, Kairi behind them silently pouting at the sight.

* * *

-*- Searching the Ruins -*-

Estelle: These ruins feel very different once you're inside them.

Karol: Yeah, it's weird. And there's all this stuff I've never seen before…

Yuri: What, is this your first time too, Karol?

Karol: Well, yeah. My specialty's monster hunting.

Liana: You make it sound like it's not your first time, Yuri. You go into some ruins with a seraph pal or something?

Yuri: Huh? Well, no…Seraph?

Liana: Nevermind.

Karol: Hey, what do you think this is?

Rita: You really shouldn't be fooling around over there. This place is loaded with traps.

Estelle: Did anyone else just hear a click?

Yuri: Karol! Watch out! *knocks Karol away*

Karol: Waaaaah!

Estelle: !

Rita: !

Yuri: Sorry, I thought you were about to get killed. I overdid it.

Karol: I think I would have been better off getting caught in the trap…

Liana: Yuri….

Yuri: Hm?

Liana: If Kairi or I set off a trap, please don't save us….

* * *

After the group fought some Polwigles and Merfish, I saw my precious treasure chest by the stairs. I pulled out the leather boots and Rita's earlier quote hit me as Estelle protested behind me that I couldn't have it. "Hey, Kairi, you don't have shoes…want them?" I asked holding out the boots to Kairi. "Liana, we really shouldn't be taking things!" Estelle protested.

"Do you really think, that someone who left boots in a chest, in a closed off ruin, would want them again?" I responded staring at her like she was stupid. "True, they don't belong to me and I could care less about some shoes compared to blastia, so it's not like it matters," Rita threw in her two cents. "But, but…." Estelle pouted still, good grief this girl needs to chill.

Kairi took the boots and sat down to put them on, "They're kinda big…." I stared at her oddly, "They kinda almost look like….(Eizen's boots, but not quite)…nah, they look stupid on you that's for sure." Rita stared at Kairi's feet, "Yeah, they just about peep out from under that dress. Considering you're dressed like some kind of noble, the shoes add a clownish touch with as big as they are on you. It kinda destroys the whole, fancy noble appearance." Kairi turned red and fumbled with the shoes tossing them aside in bashful frustration, "Come on, it's not like I got anything better….Rita~! Liana~! You're so mean~!" she pouted to us as I put the boots in my bag and we climbed the stairs up.

Once up the stairs I took a few breaths from 1 flight of stairs, going down stairs was no sweat to me, but upstairs…hell I could only handle going to the third floor of my college buildings before I needed air from how chubby/unfit I was. I began thinking of how much weight I was possibly going to lose over this entire journey and how much pain I was gonna be in once we go to see Belius…those stairs…..and Tarqaron!...ugghhhh, hopefully I'll be in better shape by then….

We came across a pile of broken blastia tossed at what seemed to be once a balcony area. Rita knelt down examining them, "Looks like this little one is no good…" Karol and Estelle stared in fascination while Kairi and I seemed more plain….rocks…it just looks like rocks. "Wow, so this is what blastia look like before they're excavated," Karol said in pure amazement. Seriously….it's just rocks!

"I wonder why ancient people buried blastia in ruins like this in the first place," Estelle asked, as if hoping Rita would have the answer. "I wish I could tell you. That's something else being researched," Rita responded to the question. "From what I'm observing and hearing, this is just my opinion, but I think there must have been a VERY good reason as to why, what that reason is, I can only make a few guesses," I spoke up, to which Rita turned angrily towards me, clearly not happy with my choice of words.

"And what reason could anyone have to bury blastia?! That's right, there is none! There probably was some accident that cause the civilization to collapse and the poor blastia fell in along with them," Rita shouted and began ranting to herself.

"Well, that's actually one of the theories I was observing, this place might've just sunk underground over the centuries when the civilization collapsed. However, I did have 2 more theories, one reason is that they buried them because the blastia was precious to them so they wanted them hidden from other people. Lastly, what I deduce as a big possibility alongside the collapse theory, is that the blastia to the people were so powerful or so harmful, they just decided to bury them to be rid of them or for them not to fall into anyone's hands," I seriously spoke, I couldn't give them the big answer of that all blastia is harmful to the world and that Hermes blastia were the worst alongside Estelle's power of The Child of the Full Moon.

"But blastia is not bad or harmful! It's only when idiots use them the wrong way that give them a bad name for things!" Rita argued, ball is in my court.

"It's just my opinion from observation, but you just proved a bit of my point for the harmful theory, idiots can and will use them the wrong way, so that's why the buried them because they're harmful, they probably didn't want to take risks. Come to think of it, I think one time when I argued with Estelle a little, she mentioned the empire regulating blastia due to their 'potential danger', that also kinda gives me a more valid argument if we were in a courtroom" I began to pout from a headache I was getting with logical arguing, "Gah, we got no time to argue logical reasoning in philosophical reasons, let's just keep focusing on finding this thief!"

Yuri crouched down between the two of us, staring at Rita intently, "With all these blastia here, I don't suppose there are any aque blastia lying around too…" Rita stood up a little frustrated at my argument and because her examination was done. "None of them have cores in them," Estelle finally decided to tell Yuri.

"Really? Then they don't work, do they?" Karol asked Estelle, expecting an answer from her. "Blastia aren't excavated with the cores and bodies together," Rita answered as she walked a bit past Karol. Karol then decided to examine the blastia while Estelle tilted her head up in her smarty pants way and recited a book from her memory, "Cores produce magic through formulas. Bodies control that magic. The two combined are referred to as blastia. Each blastia possesses different attributes, and is marked by a crest that indicates those attributes. With current technology, blastia bodies can be manufactured, but the production of blastia cores is impossible."

Yuri finally stood up along with Karol, Rita just staring at Estelle incredulously, Kairi was just sweatdropping while I looked at her boringly. "So basically, cores are very valuable, since they have to be excavated. It's only natural that thieves would want to steal them," Yuri turned to Estelle in response. Rita looked cheerful at the fact that she could now show off her knowledge, "That's not quite true. It seems Estelle's information is a little outdated."

I kinda tilted my head in confusion, I had never caught that she was calling Estellise, Estelle right now, I thought that was later. "What's outdated about it?" Karol asked, a bit of an upset look on his face from Rita pointing out Estelle's mistake. "There's some degradation of quality, but there's been some success in the synthesis of simple blastia cores," Rita answered. Again I tilted my head to the other side making Yuri look at me weirdly. (How can one synthesize a blastia core? They're supposed to be chopped up pieces of Apatheia, which is like an Entelexeia's soul. How does one make a soul from nothing? What could it possibly need to make one? I could almost see it being made like a Philosopher's stone….) At that mental image I shivered.

"Really?!" Estelle shouted in surprise. Rita walked ahead to get in Yuri's sight and turned her head towards him, "That's why I wouldn't do anything stupid like go stealing people's cores! If I had time to waste doing things like that, I'd rather be spending it researching better ways to completely restore incomplete or degraded cores. That's what being a mage is all about!" Rita shouted getting personal in her reaction so when she came back to reality she turned a tiny bit pink in embarrassment.

Yuri, of course, wasn't buying it, "A noble creed. But that doesn't clear your name." Rita had a look like she had been hoping that earlier outburst had worked, "…Yes, talk is cheap, I suppose." Estelle was now fired up to keep moving, "P-perhaps there are still some blastia left that can be used!" And thus we kept going, no stairs, no problem!

We finally found the blastia for moving the stairs to go to the next area and I gaped in awe. It looked it a piece of artwork that belonged in a museum, albeit the dust covered, dull core needed a polishing or buff to make it shiny. (If I could bring it back to earth, I would totally make it go in a museum and take credit for it just for lolz and cash since it looks like a giant gem in the center worth lots.) I paused my thoughts for one second before turning topics (What dwarven vow was the lying is the first step on the path down to thievery? I played Symphonia only a few times compared to Vesperia, so the number of the vows was a bit scrambled in my head…it's not number 1, not 7, 9, or 10…..was it 11 or was it 14?...I'll have to find my journal with the vows written down later….)

"This one's still got a core in it," Captain Karol stated the obvious (Come to think of it, was I just gonna call him Karol or should I call him something else? Bud? Nah that was Zelos...Sport? ….nah….Champ? Ace? I think I read a few fanfictions that once that called him those….at least I think….Sweetie?...nah too girlie…..Blech, Karol it has to be then for now….)

Rita walked over to Yuri, took his hand, and forced a ring on his finger, "Here, try shooting this at the core." I so wanted to tease them for that, but right now wasn't play time fully.

"This ring's set with something that looks just like a blastia core," Yuri mentioned as everyone huddled around to see it. Estelle raised her head, closed her eyes, and assumed her previous 'smarty-pants pose' as she recited from a book, "Glyph Crystallization of a formula allows this blastia to emit aer as needed." I seriously wanted to pull a TFS Piccolo and shout 'Dodge!', punch Estelle, then call her a 'Neeeeerrrrddddd', so tempted.

"That's not quite the best way to put it," Rita began, "It's actually used to charge other blastia with aer. …But wait, how did you know that?" (Ah, good ol' Professor Mordio, making it simple for those who don't get all that high tech mumbo jumbo.)

"In the castle I read that the ring acts as a kind of key in ancient ruins," Estelle blabbed out…seriously, she can blow her cover stupidly, but we can't….can I slap her now?

"Castle?" Rita said curiously as Estelle covered her mouth in surprise (Stupid, stupid Estelle :P).

"So all I do is point?" Yuri said trying to change the topic. "Just aim the Sorcerer's Ring at the core of that blastia. Face your target, and shoot. There's a limit to its range, though. Go on. Try it," Rita explained to him, her focus now on Yuri as she backed up to let him use the Sorcerer's Ring. (Come to think of it….how does the Sorcerer's Ring work?)

Yuri raised his right hand up like how some girls do to show off their rings to others, and boom, a flash of orange light shot out of the ring with a 'pew', and hit the blastia core. "…That's all it takes," Rita said as the blastia began to light up with a pattern showing in the center of it and activating much like how the one in Quoi woods had, only not so harmful. (Huh, weird….we passed out the last time a blastia was activated…is it because this one's intact and the other one was broken apart that the aer harmed us? I'll have to guess that's the case…)

"That's a strihm crest. It's a mark that indicated movement," Estelle explained. "Huh. Interesting," Yuri said as he looked around to see what would move. I nodded," Mhm, so 3 lighting strikes lined up like a jackpot on a slot machine equal movement and is called a strihm crest, got it noted." (Technically I already know…but playing dumb is so….dumb….how much faster can we get this going so I can go home?)

The sound of water being moved and stone grinding on stone filled our ears as the bridge rose up from the water to connect the center area that held the chest with boots to the other side. Another bang of stone grinding on stone and the Golem's appeared from their hiding spots in the wall catching all our attention.

"Hey, wh-what's that…?" Karol asked in a shaky voice. I patted his head to calm him down, although he seemed a tiny bit annoyed, I could tell he was getting a bit use to me doing that. "A sentinel for taking care of unwanted guests," Rita answered Karol.

"Okay then, keep your eyes open and let's keep moving," Yuri turned to and told us all. "Are you sure? What if I'm just luring you deeper into the ruins so I can 'zap' you?" Rita said rather maniacally to Yuri, but her face was just screaming sarcasm.

"I'm starting to think I'd rather try my luck with the golem," Yuri replied. (Come to think of golem's….we got that boss coming up…I need some more practice big time….) Yuri walked over to Rita and handed her the ring back, and she grabbed his hand again and put it back on him making him confused. "…Here, you take it," Rita said making him even more confused; I had to resist the urge to shout 'If you like it, then you should've put a ring on it~!' I wasn't going to lie, Yuri x Rita was one of my OTPs here in Vesperia despite Yuri x Raven being my guilty huge Vesperian OTP; though even if Yurita could be canon…it would have to wait a few years since Rita's a minor.

"Isn't this thing important or something?" Yuri asked, trying to get an answer as to why she wouldn't take the ring back. "We'll need to use it a few more times," Rita answered his question. "Okay, I guess I better hold it since I'm leading the way," Yuri said staring at the ring on his finger oddly, must not know about Bling. We walked back towards the golems and I would have to break my promise to big bro Yuri, especially if I wanted to see a small scale of what we'll be up against.

* * *

-*- The Sorcerer's Ring -*-

Yuri: I wonder if people a long time ago used little rings like this to move things around.

Rita: Yes, items like this have been discovered in other ruins, as well.

Karol: It sure is useful for something so small.

Rita: Yeah, unlike some people I could name.

Karol: Huh?

Kairi: …

Liana: Well, don't tempt me.

Estelle: It's impressive that you've been entrusted with a Sorcerer's Ring, Rita. I've heard they're only given to a very small number of people.

Yuri: Hmmm. Guess someone trusts you.

Rita: You're the only one who doesn't.

* * *

As we engaged the golem, I felt my frustration kicking my ass again, as I watched everyone scrambling about, uncoordinated, trying to fight this thing. They haven't learned much since the Eggbear battle…they need to learn how to fight these things so we won't have trouble when we face the big guy. As the golem began slamming its large wall hands into Yuri much like the Eggbear's punching flurry, I saw Kairi visibly flinch, I knew she wanted to help so bad, but she didn't want Yuri to be mad at her, plus we both know Rita would want to analyze her and forget the expedition to the boss big time.

" _Kairi! I'm gonna join in, stay back_!" I telepathically called to her as she turned to me with wide eyes.

" _But, Yuri said…_ " Kairi began to say, but I cut her off, " _I don't have a blastia, I don't use a blastia, and I don't know how to use Aer or Magic yet, so I can fight without much suspicion! You on the other hand….stand back so Yuri won't chew you out._ "

Kairi merely nodded and I ran out into the fray, my sheep knuckles on and I punched him as hard as I could in the back, which earned a crack of stone and a slow turning golem as I ran about him making him circle as I'd hit that same spot making the crack slowly wider and wider (I love these knuckles so bad~! I can't keep running forever though, I'm too fat to be the energizer bunny, I gotta think of a new strategy and fast, now.)

"Liana!" I heard Yuri shout at me angrily, he wasn't happy that I was joining in when I said I wouldn't. "Ah, be quiet big bro, I'm good! I'm getting bored anyways!" I shouted back to him as I punched one last time, running low on breath and backed up quickly to catch some air, keeping my eyes on its movement in case it had a laser beam like the other golems, I knew it wouldn't get to me anytime soon with how slow it was. Yuri took the opportunity as it was slowly walking towards me to give it a good Fang Strike to the spot where I had been punching, and we watched it fall over and crumble; it wasn't gonna be getting up ever again.

I raised my head, still trying to get air, only to be met with Yuri's sharp 'what did I tell you?' gaze, "Uhm….hey, it's not my fault….you guys are so….unorganized…"

"What did I say earlier?" Yuri said upset, screw big brother mode, he was in Papa Lowell mode now. "Screw the rules!...I have…sheeps on my hands…" I managed to spout out, which changed his strict look to his funny loopy eyed look makes when he's amused, I know, I'm hard to stay mad at I've been told, though it's not 100% true.

"I didn't think you could fight," Rita said suspiciously. I turned to her with a dumb look, "Father here said not to, because I'm fat, but I can because I get bored," I pointed accusingly at Yuri. Yuri's eyebrow twitched a bit as his eyes widened, "Father? A little while ago I was big bro…"

"Yuri! It's not nice to comment like that on a girl's weight! You need to apologize." Estelle said getting upset as Yuri sighed and waved it off. I waved also to let her know it didn't matter because it's true…that and he never really said that…

"So, can she fight too?" Rita asked staring at Kairi, who was shrinking away a bit. "She got injured at Deidon Hold, Uncle Yuri said for her to take it easy," I responded before Yuri could come up with some excuse. Once again he turned to me with wide eyes, and sighed, and waved it off before commenting, "Yeah, she hurt her hands, but I told her she could hit things with that staff if she gets into trouble."

"Yep! Now let's go and get this party started, before I die of exhaustion of standing in one spot for too long," I shouted as I kept going forward towards the new bridge, the others catching up soon after with Yuri taking the lead again.

* * *

-*- Did you say "Castle"? -*-

Rita: Hey, didn't you not say something about the castle not too long ago?

Estelle: Oh? Yes, well, you see…

Yuri: Yeah, I was in the castle a while back. I used to be a knight.

Rita: You? A knight? Please, how gullible do you think I am?

Yuri: !

Estelle: Believe it or not, it's true.

Rita:…Will wonders never cease?

Yuri: Is it really so hard for everyone to believe that?!

Liana: Hey, you didn't believe it when I said I was 26, trust me it's not easy for some people to believe things.

Yuri: Come on, let's go.

Rita: Hey, they changed the subject on me…

* * *

Upon reaching the bridge, here came the Sorcerer's Ring/Formation tutorial. A Merfish and some Ribbits came up from behind Kairi and Repede, where from, even I don't know.

"It looks like they've messed up our order…Let's take 'em down!" Yuri shouted. "We even had an order? Could've fooled me," I sassed back with a raised eyebrow, Yuri just waved it off unsheathing his sword epically again for like the hundredth time (...Where does the scabbard go, and how does it keep coming back?) Kairi backed up to take cover as Repede growled at the Merfish to keep its attention, "Woo, woof!" After a swift victory, since the group had gotten use to fighting these guys, the tutorial went on.

"That was scary…I didn't expect to be ambushed from behind like that," Karol said not so shakily as I'd have expected. "I kinda did, people may think monsters may be brainless and charge head on, which may be the case lots of times….but some are smart enough to know to take prey by surprise, it's kinda like observe and learn" I replied casually.

"Well, I guess we just can't ever let our guard down where there are monster's about," Yuri spoke up. "If they attack from the rear, any of us could get pulled into battle," Estelle said. I tilted my head in confusion a little, sure this was a tutorial in the game….but right now this is reality so...

"But does it really matter much? If a monster shows up now, we all face it except the injured who have to stand back. Though with splitting apart the party into groups like of 4 or 5 it make sense, since you can rotate members to keep from getting incredibly fatigued…though right now we more so only have 7 people with 1 injured. A team of 3 could get us really hurt with the golems though until we can figure a way to deal with them easier, the other small fry, not so much," I rubbed my head with both hands, showing I was hurting my head with over thinking, "Ugh, why does no one stop me from thinking before my head begins to pop?"

Rita just raised an eyebrow, "Because, I wanted to see if you can actually use your head. Surprisingly, you do compared to some of these guys." I glared a bit at her despite the slight comment, rubbing my head to stop the major headache I was now sporting.

"Right…Let's be careful and hope that doesn't happen again," Yuri said cautiously turning to Kairi, who just turned a bit pink and nodded. He must be thinking what I'm thinking; Kairi ain't fighting, so to the more observant monsters she's possibly injured and easy prey despite that she's just fine, but they don't know that.

"Hmm. This only happens with a preemptive attack," Rita responded. "Preemptive attacks, eh…" Yuri said in thought. "What?" Rita said as though Yuri was accusing her.

Karol's face soon turned to fright as he looked behind Kairi again, "You guys! It's another one!" (Huh? I thought Karol was supposed to say 'It's back!'….oh right…..other one's dead lolz) Kairi quickly turned and ran to the other side behind everyone else, Repede following and staying beside her to keep her safe.

"Hit it with what I gave you just now!" Rita shouted to Yuri. Yuri looked confused and stared down at the ring on his finger, "Huh? You mean with this…?" A pew, and soon the monster was swaying about in place almost like it was drunk. "Do it, now!" Rita shouted again as Yuri charged it and killed it in no time.

"I feel power running all through my body," Yuri quoted, and I snickered a bit from recalling how Caryn had once explained to me how dirty that sounded. "Hey, what's so funny?" Yuri said turning to me with an amused look, if he keeps making that face I'm going to bust my gut. "Nothing," I snickered again at his face, "Just an inside joke I recall from a friend of mine."

Once Yuri was satisfied with the answer I gave, he stared down at the ring, "I get it now, so that's how it works." Estelle stared at the ring incredulously, "I didn't know it can be used like that, too."

Once everyone was done admiring the ring, Rita spoke up, "Right. Let's get a move on." With that we all nodded and pressed onwards fighting all the Merfish, Ribbits, Polwigles, Bats, and Golems along the way as well as opening chests despite the protests.

* * *

-*- Rita's Calm Mind -*-

Estelle: Rita, you seem very used to fighting for someone who's been doing research in Aspio for so long.

Rita: I'm just used to using magic, and I've been working to cultivate a calm mind.

Yuri: A calm mind, huh…?

Liana: Didn't work when I argued with her though.

Estelle: Is there something wrong with that?

Karol: …Boo!

Rita: *punches Karol*

Karol: Ouch!

Liana: You had that one coming little buddy.

Rita: Sorry, I thought you were a monster.

Karol: Argh…I'll startle you someday, you just wait…

* * *

-*- Nothing to Worry About -*-

Estelle: Hmm…If that ceiling collapsed, we'd be buried alive.

Liana: Didn't think you could think that realistically.

Karol: Wh-what are you saying stuff like that for, Estelle?! What if it really happened?

Rita: Come on, don't be such a wimp. These ruins are made of stronger stuff than that.

Liana: Although time will beat high mountain down, they say.

Karol: *loud crash is heard* Ahhh! Estelle, now the ceilings going to collapse because you were talking about it!

Liana: Ah, no, if it were Yuri talking about it, it'd happen, cause he's cursed.

Karol: …Huh?

Yuri: Oh, sorry. I just stubbed my toe on a rock.

Liana: See, what'd I say?

Rita: …You did that on purpose, didn't you?

Estelle: Yuri…You're mean…

Liana: Yuri…You're cursed…

Kairi: Yuri…*puts face in hands and pretends to lightly sob*….

Yuri: ! I was just playing, sheesh.

Karol: C-come on, let's hurry and finish up what we're doing so we can get out of these ruins!

* * *

"Uhm," I said as I stared at this golem that looked frozen in place. "Is it…alive?" Estelle asked as she looked at it as well. "I'm sure it is, just hit it with the Sorcerer's Ring, and then we'll find out," Rita said to Yuri. One hit was all it took for it to suddenly go into a blind rage, once it was taken down we heard the familiar stone grinding on stone and water moving.

The bridge rose into place and we looked confused. "Huh? But we didn't activate a blastia…" I said aloud, catching everyone's attention. "That golem must have been the trigger for that bridge then I guess," Yuri replied. I ran up the bridge despite everyone saying we had to stay in a group, but I turned around with a Stiletto in hands, "I hit a good one, my chest senses are on fire today," I smiled down at everyone.

I put the Stiletto in my bag on my living room floor, I wasn't about to just set it on my bed, it may rip my memory foam mattress (Oh how I miss thee….). "I'll hold onto it for you Estelle after you get the hang of the Rapier I made you," I told her as she looked surprised. "Huh? But why for me?" Estelle said surprised but with a tiny hint of happiness in her tone. "Cause one, it seems too small for Yuri, and two, I don't use swords….I can't, too heavy, three, it's too girly for either Yuri, Karol, or me," I complained. Yuri nodded in agreement, while Rita looked at me a bit oddly, "How'd you fit that in your bag?"

I sweatdropped, I just now caught her attention…."Well it's kinda similar to Karol's bag, so that's why." Yuri stepped in, now sensing I flipped a switch, "It's certainly weird, but we can ask Karol how it works later." She decided to drop it, and we continued onwards solving the puzzles until we were face to face with Goliath.

Rita ran past us to check on Goliath like a kid in a candy shop. "H-hey!" Yuri shouted, trying to get her attention, trying to figure out what she was doing. "Jeez, what is this thing?! So this is a blastia, too?" Karol asked hoping for an answer.

Yuri poked at Goliath's arm, to be honest I wanted to touch it too, but it was about to spring to life soon I knew. Kairi sensing my thoughts, nodded and ran near the pillar where Rita would soon be tossed into, plus it was away from the battle so she could obey Yuri's command, but this thing was huge….can we do this without her? Some intermediate magic or advance magic could bring it down easily…but…

"But what I want is the aque blastia, not this…this puppet," Yuri said, clearly becoming a bit upset. "What are you doing? Don't just go poking at him like that!" Rita shouted at Yuri angrily. He up and walked off away from Goliath, sensing he wasn't welcome to check it out.

"If I can just analyze him, I'll finally be able to complete my anima formu- huh? No! His blastia core is missing!" Rita shouted. Repede's sudden growl alerted us to above, where a white robed figure ran behind the pillar. "Rita, looks like one of your friends is here," Yuri said to her to get her attention.

Rita casually began walking over in front of Goliath, shouting at the intruder above, "Hey! Who're you?" The figure came out from behind the pillar, shakily speaking, "M-me? I'm just a blastia researcher from Aspio!" I sweat dropped as Yuri took notice of my dumb looking face, "…That sounded convincing." I looked up at him still dumbly, "No kidding…"

"And just who are all of you? This place is off-limits, you know!" The figure shouted, gaining confidence at the lack of response. "I think you just gave yourself away," Rita said sassily, "I don't know who you are, but you're definitely not from Aspio if you don't recognize me."

Karol turned to me now, "…Guess she's got no problems with modesty." I nodded, "Mhm, wish I could have that much." Yuri looked at me amused for a moment, "I'd say you got plenty." At the sound of shuffling footsteps Yuri became alert, and unsheathed his Rapier again as the robed man ran towards Goliath's back.

"Gah! This job is full of problems. If it's not the Knights, it's a bunch of kids!" The guy shouted as he slammed what looked like a glowing orb into Goliath's back, his core obviously. His plain black body began to glow blue in some areas like flowing energy. "Aaah, it's moving!" Karol shouted, starting to freak out.

"Rita!" Estelle shouted as Goliath raised his arm and backhanded her towards the pillar. "Rita!" Kairi shouted as she grabbed Rita as she hit the pillar, acting as a cushion for impact, "Guuhh." Estelle ran over to them to heal them, and I saw Rita grabbing Estelle's arm, yup she figured out Estelle's not using her blastia.

I felt a tug on my arm pulling me away, as Goliath's arms came down into my view. Yuri had yanked me away when my focus was on the 3 females near the pillar. "Hey you guys! Stop playing around and help us!" Karol shouted to the others. "Grr…All right, all right!" Rita shouted back as Estelle hopped up to join the others when Kairi signaled she was ok.

"I'm going after that idiot! You all take care of this!" Rita shouted. "What do you mean you'll leave it to us? How're you gonna get through?!" Yuri shouted, his eyes wide with surprise. "Grr…That idiot!" Rita shouted back, growing irritated at the sight of the robed figure running off in the distance.

"I guess we've got no choice but to play with this wind-up toy for now," Yuri said as Rita charged up her magic. "Let's get this over with and go after that jerk!" Rita shouted, and I found myself wondering….how were we gonna take it down? What about our thief? What if the monsters don't stop him from running? Either way, right now, we're in a world of hurt…

* * *

Good grief this took a while to finish up….

Caryn: I'll say, you haven't been on Discord, Mabi, Gaia, or IMVU to chat with me hardly D:

I try to get on Gaia, but it's usually to sell things and then afk the whole day. Plus, I'm back in hell, what do you expect. This semester has been filled with projects since week 1, and it's not getting easier, I shoulda stuck to my original idea to have 3 classes instead of more…but I took my 4 hardest ones this semester, and I still got the hard ones on the list to take.

Justin: And whose fault is it that they decided to change majors and minors, after getting an Associates in Science and not in Art or Education?

Oh shut up, and then this week my mother was in the hospital after her mind snapped and she tried to commit suicide via overdose on insulin and pills.

Justin: How did that go by the way?

She's out, and seems back to normal….but now we're wondering when she might snap again….and we're having to treat her more like a baby with taking responsibilities away from her and placing rules big time *sigh* This woman needs to learn that life is a blessing, not a curse…and I thought she was religiously Christian…but she did once say love isn't enough for her anymore…so I don't know what is anymore…

Caryn: *sigh* Guess I can't crack a whip at you for this fiction until break times or after the semester where you got a break.

But I got projects galore, so even Thanksgiving break won't be enough for me D: The speed won't pick up until after this semester is done and I got like a month or 2 reprieve and I gotta start again, then Summer equals lots of time to work on it.

Caryn: Crap XP

Well I'm working on it at least, even if it is like a paragraph a day or so….so it's not like it's 100% dead!

Caryn: Well, you better at least get to me before the New Year or I'll be upset that you got to Justin XP

Seriously….*sigh*

Justin: Well I'm fixing to go out for Sushi, wanna come with? You gotta pay for your entry though, sorry :P

Yes ;w; please (I want Sushi so bad, I haven't had it in a LONG while XD)

Caryn: DAMN YOU TWO! I WANT SUSHI TOO Q-Q

Next Time: Goliath and Rita~


	12. 11: Me and My Broken Dirt Brain

FINALLY a chapter up to prove I'm not dead yet, though I might be if I don't get a good break soon…(No guarantee this Christmas break will be relaxing either, then classes begin in mid-January again for Spring….)

Please remember, ( ) parenthesis are MY thoughts, _italics are telepathic talk between me and Kairi_

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Tales of Vesperia, Justin, or Caryn. I DO have permission to use Justin and Caryn though. I OWN myself, Kairi, and my work in this fic. That is all….please just copy and paste this for each chapter me….would be so much easier.

* * *

"I can't believe this things moving!" Karol shouted as Goliath hulked over to us. "Yeah, what with its large body on tiny, stubby, misshapen legs….but I threw logic away from day 1….I'm not gonna speculate on the law of physics," I blurted out as I ran away from an uppercut.

"Be careful, he doesn't know how to go easy on people," Rita said in a concerned tone. (Yeah….that one wasn't directed at ANY of us to be safe…more like, don't hurt my precious :P )

"He? What makes you think it's a h-," I decided to bring up conversation, but…that spot on its groin made me shut up and hold back all my shit filled giggles (Ah, the pleasantries of my dirty mind), but…"WHY THE HELL DOES IT HAVE A PENIS?!" I shouted as I evaded another downward swing.

"WHAT?!" I heard Karol shout, his cheeks pink at my sudden shout. Kairi was now covering her eyes and fidgeting against the pillar, probably laughing and trying to hide it and not wanting to look at Goliath's…..package, any further. Estelle looked a bit confused, ah the naïve princess….one day….one day….but Rita and Yuri were looking at me like they didn't expect me to shout that 'word'…SERIOUSLY, IT'S IN OUR FACES! HOW AM I NOT GONNA SAY WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE?!

"Can we really defeat something this BIG," Estelle asked, taking the spotlight off my offensive question. I cringed and turned to her with wide eyes, "You did that on purpose….didn't you?" She turned her head confused and that though got me thinking as I watched Yuri and Karol fighting it, should I make this fight quick, or do we drag it out? Will it seem suspicious if I tell Yuri to attack the Achilles' heel to make him topple over so Rita can turn him off? Ugh, I was so concerned about that guy getting away…(Ok, my mind's made up, let's make this quick, yet not too quick.)

"Please, calm down," Rita began speaking to the Golem, she wasn't fighting it, probably afraid she'll hurt it.

"I don't think this thing's gonna listen," Yuri replied quickly, to which Rita was not pleased. "Blastia have hearts too," Rita snapped. (If that's the case, then the ground we're standing on has a heart, and it doesn't care if we trample all over it because it don't give a fuck or….it's just a Dou M…..yeah gonna go with Dou M XD)

"A sword works better on crazy things like this," Yuri replied as he slashed at Goliath's hand only for his sword to be knocked back. "So…how's that working out for you now?" I asked Yuri with a raised eyebrow.

"So, are you going to help or not? You've been running in circles watching us with this guy for the while, how about actually doing something?" Yuri argued at me for once. I was a bit shocked, but I sighed and walked forwards, "Unlike you who can last long in a battle, I'm conservative since I'm NOT fit. But I don't just do nothing when I'm running away. Unlike a certain battle maniac, I'm the strategist, and now it's time to test some theories."

I ran between his arms and jumped to uppercut Goliath in the *cough* special place *cough*…sadly, there was no effect or response, "Hmmm….guess he's sterile…..well, what about," I walked through between his legs just as his arm slammed down where I was standing in thought. I turned to his right heel where his 'weakness' was and gave it a HARD jab, and he went kneeling, "Hello, Mama~!"

The stagger didn't last long, Goliath soon got back to his feet, turned to me, and began charging the buster move. "That one is NEW!" I shouted in panic as I ran away from the beam and turned when I was well away, panting due to my overweight self. "I GOT A…..*pant* PLAN…*pant*," I shouted as I tried to catch my breath.

"I'm all ears Liana, what is it?!" Yuri shouted as he avoided a flying kick from Goliath. "FIRST!..*pant* GET IT TO DO THAT BEAM AGAIN! *pant* *pant* HE…HE TAKES A WHILE TO CHARGE SO THE TIMING IS PERFECT! *pant**cough* ONCE HE'S CHARGING YURI *pant* THERE'S A BLUE AREA ON HIS BACK RIGHT *cough* LEG…..*deep breath* SLASH OR BEAT IT TO YOUR HEARTS CONTENT!" I shouted clutching my chest and trying to settle down.

"Wait a minute!" Rita shouted, clearly not happy at my choice of words. "RITA! ONCE IT'S DOWN *small pant* TURN IT OFF! YOU CAN DO THAT…..RIGHT?!" I shouted, "IF YOU CAN'T…THEN WE'RE KINDA SCREWED…."

"…," Rita looked in thought before she shook her head in frustration, "Urrggghhh! FINE!"

Kairi ran over and grabbed Estelle's arm to move her away from the battle while Yuri and Karol circled the golem, trying to provoke it to charging the beam. Once my breath was back I was back at trying to provoke him as well, I even gave his….goods…..another smack…but no beam.

"Don't tell me, he's one of those super intelligent things, and he heard the plan and knows what we want?" I said grouchily. "He could have," Rita said answering me.

I pouted and punched his Achilles' heel again, making him kneel again for a tiny bit, "No one wants to see your Gluteus Maximus, nor are we entertained! Learn some other form of comedy other than your crude humor." Everyone just sweat dropped at me, wondering what the heck I was even going on about.

Suddenly….OVER LIMITS! I landed on my ass as Goliath went into Over Limit and began charging his buster in my direction. "Oh….don't like me criticizing your humor? Or was it about your ass?" I asked with a cocky smirk as Yuri ran and began attacking his heel causing Goliath to fall over completely. I back crawled away to avoid being crushed under him as Rita hopped on his back.

"All that's left is to cut off its power supply…I'm sorry…" Rita said as she shut Goliath off. Yuri and Karol began to head out, Kairi and I running to catch up with them while Estelle walked over to Goliath, staring at it intently.

"Rita, hurry!" Karol shouted at the mage who was staring down at Goliath with eyes filled with sorrow. Rita turned her head from Goliath to Karol, back and forth a bit before responding irritably, "All right, all right!" Hopping off Goliath, Rita turned to Estelle, noticing she wasn't moving from her spot staring at Goliath, and shouted at her, "Come on! Let's go!"

"But Flynn…" Estelle replied, her gaze not leaving its fixated spot. "There can't be many knights here if our shady friend in the cloak is just wandering around," Yuri provided a point, to which our stupid *cough* I mean our naïve little princess took the wrong way.

"So you think Flynn is…" Estelle looked distraught, and in that moment I got so damn annoyed…

"Did anyone just hear a snap?" Karol asked before he covered his ears from the shouting that ensued from beside him.

"OHHH MYYY GODDD! SHUT UP ALREADY! YOU'RE LIKE A BROKEN RECORD! HAS YURI NOT SAID THAT THIS FLYNN IS A BIG BOY AND CAN EVEN BEAT HIS ASS?! YOU AUTOMATICALLY ASSUME HE'S HURT OR DEAD WITH A FEW WORDS, AND YOU HONESTLY CALL THAT GUY YOUR FRIEND?! YOU HAVE ZERO FAITH IN HIM! IF HE'S YOUR FRIEND, AND YOU KNOW HIM, AND YOU'RE GETTING VOUCHERS FOR HIS DEPENDABILITY FROM HIS FRIENDS, SHOULDN'T YOU BELIEVE IN HIM MORE THAN THIS?!" I snapped, panting for air at the end of my rant.

"Those hormones sure are swinging…," I heard Kairi mutter to Karol and Yuri, who just stared incredulously at me. Everyone stayed silent and gave me room, Estelle looked taken aback, as her tiny head began processing my words. Once my words sank in, Estelle's head lowered in shame, "…Oh…"

"Come on!" Yuri finally spoke up, as he turned to walk ahead, clearly not wanting us to waste time on an argument. I huffed and followed him as did Kairi and Repede.

"If I'd just had a little more time I could've figured out the anima formula!" Rita said as she followed us, Estelle still taking a bit of time to move from her spot. "Is that why we were fighting that thing?!" Karol shouted at Rita, clearly upset.

"Of course," Rita's simple reply was, but she had her troll face on and oh dear lord I wanted to laugh right now at it. "You suck!" was Karol's typical response to Rita. Yuri looked a little more frustrated, he wants us to get a move on, and Estelle walked over during the fray to be able to catch up with us.

"You guys were already here looking for the thief. I just had you guys help out a little," Rita trolled still. "Let's go! Let's go!" Yuri said with an angry look on his face, he can be patient no more. Everyone looked shocked except Kairi and me who quickly followed behind him and Repede.

* * *

-*- Stay Innocent Little One -*-

Estelle: Say Liana…

Liana: Hm?

Estelle: What were you talking about back there, when you shouted something about a…Pea Nuts?

Yuri/Rita/Karol: !

Liana: ! Huh?!….I figured you'd know at your age by now…are you really that sheltered?

Estelle: Huh?

Liana: Hmm…tell me, how flustered can you get?

Estelle: Flustered?

Liana: Does the word 'sex' bother you at all? Do you even know what that word means?

Yuri/Karol/Rita/Kairi: !

Estelle: Huh? What is that? I've come across it in text, but I could never figure what it means, nor would anyone tell me.

Liana: …*pats Estelle on head* Then stay innocent little one….stay innocent…

Everyone else: *sighs in relief*

* * *

We ran through beating many monsters back on the path out. I crossed my fingers, hoping the guy would be where he's supposed to be. I almost had a panic attack when I saw he wasn't at the center platform, but I sighed and silently thanked lady luck when I saw he had made it a little further up, but was still surrounded by monsters.

"Look, there he is!" Karol shouted, pointing at the thief as Repede charged to either deal with the monsters or to keep the guy from running once we dealt with the monsters. Some Polwigles and Ribbits, nothing extravagant, but on the plus side Estelle learned Barrier and Karol learned Destroying Rock.

We all gathered around our trembling thief, as Repede was keeping him in place. "How can he just steal the core and walk off like that…?" Rita nearly shouted in anger. Repede growled with every movement the thief made, causing our thief to panic, "Aaah! Stop! M-make him stop! I've only been hired to do a job…I was told I'd get a good price for any Blastia cores I could find."

I sweat dropped at this guy's stupidity, does he really believe saying it was a job would make any of us accept it? Either way, I'm happy for stupid villains like this, they're so much easier to deal with than those that can use their head. Yuri of course wasn't happy with this guy's explanation though, "You stole cores from the imperial capital too, didn't you?"

"The capital? No way, not me!" The thief confessed. I sighed, "Figures, things are never that easy with a cursed person's luck." That earned me a tiny glare from Yuri before his attention went back to interrogation, "Then maybe it was one of your friends." Our thief panicked yet again, but despite the panic, he gave us the correct answer at least, "Y-yeah! It's that creep, Dedecchi." I sweat dropped again and muttered to myself, "What kind of name is Dedecchi? Sounds so lame for a villain's name." Happily Yuri didn't hear me, but Karol and Kairi sure heard me and sweat dropped as well.

"Where'd he run off to?" Yuri asked angrily. "He's probably picking up his money from the client right now," the thief said, no longer panicking and just giving in to the interrogation so far. Yuri's gaze just seemed to get harsher with each answer, "Client, huh? And who exactly might that be?" That gaze made the thief panic once again, "All I know he's somewhere in Torim Harbor. I don't know any more than that! He was a huge bruiser of a guy with a scar on his right cheek and one eye missing." Yuri put his hand to his chin in thought for a while, "So is this the guy collecting all the cores…?"

"Yuri can be scary," I muttered to myself, and I turned to look over at everyone else's expressions, but I sweat dropped at one little goddess's reaction. Kairi was behind everyone, so no one took notice of her, but she was looking at Yuri with such loving eyes, her hands on her cheeks to try to hide her deepening blush, her lips twitching ever so slightly between a pout and a smile. " _Omai wa…..Dou M, desu ka?_ " I telepathically snickered at her, which caused her to wave her hands silently in panic in my direction. " _Liana! It's not like that! It's just…his commanding tone….his harsh gaze….when I saw them I just….was overwhelmed and when I started thinking about him taking charge…_ " she froze as if realizing her words and covered her entire face which was now tomato red, " _…I might be an M…._ " I grinned, " _Perfect! Cause Yuri's definitely an S_!" Those words almost made Kairi faint with how red her body got, steam was almost coming out of her ears.

"And where did you steal that Sorcerer's Ring?" Rita asked as it was her turn to interrogate him. The thief got upset at that accusation, "Wh-who says I stole it? The client gave it to me, said it would be useful for this job!" Yuri was still gauging this guy with a harsh suspicious gaze, I took note on Kairi's fidgeting, I'll be teasing her plenty tonight. "Liar. That's not something the boss of some pickpockets could get his hands on," Rita said a tad viciously.

"H-honest! You gotta believe me!" the thief shouted at Yuri (Seems Rita is more intimidating to him than Yuri, haha.) "This thing sounds pretty big. You think somebody important is behind it all?" Karol said aloud to all of us. "I think you're on the right track, Captain Karol. This doesn't sound like some ordinary band of thieves," Yuri said, snapping out of his thoughts finally. "Ooooo, I can just imagine the scandal behind it all!" I shouted, my eyes practically sparkling at my running imagination causing everyone to give me odd looks, despite I knew who our 'Client' was.

"Man! First the Knights, then the monsters, now this…" the thief whined as he threw a little tantrum. "Knight?" Boy didn't that catch Estelle's attention, "Then Flynn was here after all." That name caught the thief's attention too, "Yeah, that's him. That damn knight!" Rita hit him with her whip like sash, "Shut up!" I turned to Estelle with a dead pan look and whined a bit, "See! Flynn was here, so now can you stop being a dumb ass?" Kairi face palmed and Yuri gave a huge sigh as Karol and Estelle just gaped at my choice of words, Rita didn't give a damn.

"Great, Rita. You knocked him out…Now what?" Karol changed the subject, pouting at Rita. "I'll have the city guards come pick him up later," Rita said as she began to head on the path out. "All right then, let's get back to Aspio," Yuri said to the rest of us and we obeyed and followed…at least until I turned right instead of left to run to that last treasure chest for the Amber Cloak, or running up the stairs to grab the Half Guard once we were out.

* * *

-*- Dirty Mind #1 -*-

Liana: _I never pegged you as the type that could have such a dirty mind~_

Kairi: _I-I-I wasn't thinking anything of the sort! I was just…overwhelmed…_

Liana: _Turned on was more like it._

Kairi: _I WAS NOT!…I just…I like the dominant, take charge type…..what's wrong with that?_

Liana: _So the fact that you were almost drooling back there wasn't you having any weird fantasies?_

Kairi: _I WASN'T!_

Liana: _No fantasies about him taking charge in bed?_

Kairi: _NO!_

Liana: _No fantasies about him taking charge in the bathtub or shower?_

Kairi: _NO!_

Liana: _No fantasies about him taking charge in a cramped wardrobe with everyone in the room, adding the possible thrill of being discovered?!_

Kairi: ….*steam comes out of ears* NOOOOO! FORGET THAT LAST THOUGHT JUST NOW! I WASN'T THINKING THAT AT ALL!

Estelle: AH! Uh…oh Kairi, is anything wrong?! You just startled me, is everything alright?! K-KAIRI! You're super red! Hold on I'll get some water. *runs off*

Kairi: N-No! Wait! Estelle! I'm Fine! Really!

Liana: Uwa….Hentai….

Kairi: LIANA! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO PUT THAT IN MY HEAD!

Yuri: Put what in your head?

Kairi: … *blushes**faints*

Yuri: !

Liana: *mutters* Kairi, you have such a dirty mind :T

* * *

We all made it to Aspio without much trouble, our fighting in the ruins had leveled up everyone to an okay level where the monsters in the plains weren't a match anymore. Problem is, my medicine is starting to wear off and I'm sleepy as fuck. Walking up the hill inside the cavern, Estelle broke our silence, "…So Flynn wasn't in there, either." I twitched, seriously I wanted to slug her, she was just too thirsty sounding right now.

"So who is this knight, exactly?" Rita asked, sounding almost jealous. "He's Yuri's friend," Estelle's simple response was. Rita looked a bit annoyed, but turned to Yuri regardless, "Hmmm, 'your' friend? That must be a pain."

Yuri turned to her slightly, figuring she was talking to him, "Huh?" Rita got bored of that quickly and changed topics to a question, "Never mind. So what brings him to this town?" As she walked closer, Yuri and Karol just ignored her and walked up ahead. I stepped up too, mainly to death glare at the guard if he tried to mess with Karol again.

"He was looking for a mage to repair Halure's barrier Blastia…" Estelle answered her. "Ohh…that rookie…He came to see me, too," Rita said as it seemed the memory came back to her. On cue, "Flynn did? Was he all alright?" Estelle said frantically as she ran in front of Rita to stop her from moving forward, her hands clasped together near her chest in absolute desperation (Absolute Desperation LOLZ that could be a revision to Gaius's Absolute Domination mystic arte XD).

"Yeah, I guess," Rita said uncomfortably, even she could tell how thirsty Estelle seemed. "You guess?" Karol asked at the bizarre way Rita quoted that. "Since he's a knight, I'm sure he got some mage or another to help. Maybe he's already back in Halure?" Rita replied.

"…Oh, no…" Estelle said sadly. I sighed, turned away and muttered to myself, "Nope, still a dumbass…" Apparently, I hadn't muttered low enough, as Yuri gave me a nudge on my side with his elbow and a stern look that said, 'What did I tell you last night?' I rolled my eyes at him and turned away, it's not my fault that I was on my period and that Estelle just so happens to be pressing all my buttons, plus I was younger than Karol when I got introduced to profanity.

"Well? Do you trust me yet?" Rita asked Yuri, who turned his focus off monitoring me. "I don't think Rita's the sort of person to steal," Estelle began vouching for the young mage. "Vouch for her character all you like, but that doesn't prove her innocence," Yuri responded. Estelle pouted in frustration, "But…!" (Oh so vouching for Rita makes you think Yuri will believe in her, but when Yuri vouches for Flynn on him being a big boy, you don't believe in it…That's what I call Karma.)

I reared out my hand to give him a Gibb's slap, and he caught my hand before it could hit the back of his head, "Awww, you ruined the Gibb's slap." Yuri just blinked dumbly at me before opening his mouth, "What is it with you slapping the back of my head?"

I just grinned from ear to ear practically and cheerfully responded in Teepo fashion, "As a sign of affection~," until I reshaped it back to my dead, plain poker face and dead panned, "Plus that and you're either being a certain dere right now or stupiiiiiddduuuhhh."

Yuri's gaze became dumb staring to a low, 'what the fuck' gaze, "Huh?" I shook my head and decided to just stick with my current and previous thoughts, "You got your evidence on her innocence yet you continually deny it. Though," I turned to Estelle with a shit filled grin, "This Estelle is what you call 'Karma~!' "

I felt Yuri's hand stiffen on my wrist for a second, probably wondering just what I was gonna say next and if it was appropriate or if he'd need to cover my mouth. "Karma?" Estelle said, her head tilted in confusion. "You mentioned that before, what is it?" Rita asked a bit curiously.

"Karma, let's see…hmmm, it's kinda like the saying, 'What goes around, comes around' or ' everybody gets there just deserts', something like that, only instead of the whole phrase, it's just a word to describe the phenomena," I tried explaining, which only earned me some blinking, dumb stares.

"In other words, example time! Estelle! Yuri vouched for Flynn back in the woods on how powerful he is, he's a big boy, but you don't seem to believe it," As I said that, Estelle looked taken aback a bit, possibly recalling my previous rant in Shaikos. Yuri looked a bit panicked as though wondering if I should continue or not. "And right now, you vouched for Rita's innocence, but Yuri doesn't believe it. That is Karma. You didn't believe what he told you about Flynn, so now he doesn't believe what you told him about Rita, get it? What goes around, comes around," I continued, "Education for you people. Although, Yuri's just being Yuri! Yuri can say one thing and mean another, because he's Yuri, and Yuri is Yuri, which also happens to be Yuri, and the universal answer is Yuri, so Yuri can space travel, which means he can climb in your window to steal your socks, so Yuri is just a word to describe a stupid closet romantic who can time tr-Mmrrpfhhh mmmm fuuuu brrrrrr." I didn't get to finish as a hand clamped over my mouth, its owner giving me a 'What the Hell are you saying?!' look.

Kairi giggled at the scene, until she burst into laughter, "Liana hahaha, you can be so haha stupid, sometimes…ahahaha." I rubbed the top of my head sheepishly, grinning into Yuri's hand, to which he began to chuckle a bit due to Kairi's laughter. Estelle stared confused for a bit until laughter over took her too, Karol soon followed after, Rita just stared at us dumbly, not sure why we were laughing to begin with when nothing silly happened at all.

Rita turned to Estelle, Yuri, and me once Estelle stopped laughing, "Don't bother trying to make him believe me. But, I really didn't do it, y'know." Yuri's grip on my mouth loosened a bit, "Hmph. Well, I guess research seems to fit you better than robbery." Taking the opportunity, I yanked his hand off my mouth, "Yeah! Cause Yuri is Yuri, and Yuri is a dere, so Yu-." It didn't take long for him to slap his hand on my mouth one more time and drag me off towards the gate to avoid my weird rants.

"Yuri isn't very good at expressing his feelings," I heard Kairi say, she stole Estelle's line, I kinda had to chuckle when I saw Estelle close her mouth and stare incredibly at Kairi since she said what she wanted to say. I ignored how the guards once again asked for our passports, as well as why Yuri had his hand clamped over my mouth. "…What a weirdo. I'm going to go let the city guards know about what happened. Go and wait for me in my lab. " I faintly heard Rita say.

Yuri turned to Rita who began walking up to us, "I don't think those stubborn guards will let us pass through the entrance." Rita reached in her pocket, "True," she then threw something towards us and Yuri caught it with his free hand, "Then take this with you. Show this to the guard and they should let you through."

"Thanks," Yuri said softly as Rita ran passed him. "Yrrff mmm nn brrrm," I tried saying 'Yuri is a bae', but he just glared down at me with eyes that said 'BEHAVE'. "Got it?" we heard Rita shout, which got our attention to the gate, "Don't leave town without my permission or you'll be sorry!" With that, the mage ran into the town as we all gazed at the item given to us and figured out it was a passport. We showed it the guard, and with permanent access, we entered Aspio and headed into Rita's shack, I mean lab.

* * *

-*-Clearing Rita's Name -*-

Estelle: It's a good thing the core thief you're chasing turned out not to be Rita, right Yuri?

Yuri: Huh? How do you figure that? I couldn't care less who the core thief was. I would have loved if it were Rita. I'd be done by now.

Karol: I wouldn't let her hear you say that…

Yuri: Well, at least we got a lead for catching the real criminal. I can't complain about that.

Liana: Yeah, cause Yuri is de-

Yuri: ! Seriously, behave.

* * *

-*- Yuri is- 1-*-

Liana: *rocking back and forth*

Yuri: Hey, you okay?

Liana: ….Sleepy….my Midol is wearing off too….I gotta retake it *pulls out 2 pills and a bottle water from bag**takes medicine*…..now I can sleep…*closes eyes*

Yuri: *shakes Liana* You can't sleep standing up, just wait until we set camp.

Liana: Don't wanna…..*pokes Yuri's chest* PuniPuni~ hahaha

Yuri: !

Karol: I think she's starting to lose her mind.

Liana: *tackles Yuri on ground**rubs head on chest* Soft and squishy hahaha

Yuri: H-HEY!

Estelle: ! L-Liana, what are you doing?!

Liana: Sleeping on a pillow….

Yuri: I'm not a pillow!

Liana: But you are 'Yuri', and 'Yuri' is the universal answer, therefore, you are a pillow…goodnight…

Yuri: Would you stop with the 'I' am stuff already?! Don't just decide to sleep on me! Hey! Liana, c'mon! You're heavy! Get off!

Liana: Zzzzzz

Yuri: WAKE UP!

Estelle: *flustered* ! L-Liana! Please, wake up! A girl shouldn't sleep on a man like that, it's indecent and, and….please, just wake up!

Karol: Yup. She broke.

Kairi: *pouts* Urayamashii….

Karol: Huh?

* * *

After almost falling asleep in Rita's 'lab', Yuri gave in to being my temporary pillow so long as I didn't fall asleep, I'd get my weight off him and only use my head, and that I stop with the Yuri is- rants. I couldn't go back to bed if I wanted to either way, Estelle began pacing up and down the room, it was giving me a huge migraine since my Midol hadn't kicked in yet. Kairi was laying down beside Repede, talking to him to keep from sleeping herself.

"If you're that worried about Flynn, would you rather leave now?" Yuri asked Estelle who merely turned to us. "It's just…I've got to say a proper goodbye to Rita…," Estelle responded. "That was convincing…not buying it…," I muttered into Yuri's chest, to which Yuri nudged me in response and replied to Estelle, "Then take it easy."

"What are you going to do after this, Yuri?" Karol asked curiously. "I guess I'll go pay a visit to the guy behind all this core stealing. It sounds like Dedecchi ended up going to the same place, too," Yuri responded with his goofy face, I had the strongest urge to pinch his cheeks for it, but I let it slide. "In that case, we should make a beeline for Nor Harbor," Karol chimed in as Estelle walked over to join the conversation.

"Didn't he say Torim Harbor?" Yuri asked, "Yeah, pretty sure that was what that guy said," I piped up. "Oh right, you guys don't know," Karol said almost laughing a little. "Don't know what?" Yuri asked again, Karol had his full attention now.

"Nor and Torim are both ports of a city that extends across two different continents. On the Ilyccian side, where we are now, is the port of Capua Nor. People call it Nor Harbor. Capua Torim is the port on the other side, on the Tolbyccian continent. It's usually just called Torim Harbor. So first we'll go to Nor Harbor. We'll have to pass by Ehmead Hill on the way, but it's not that far west from here," Karol educated us.

"My baby boy is so smart~," I cooed, which made Karol both blush and pout, "I'm not a baby!" I could only giggle and aww at how cute he was right now. "I'll be going back to Halure. I still need to follow Flynn," Estelle said worriedly, which destroyed my happy moment and annoyed me. "Figures…of course," I muttered into Yuri's chest again, which earned me another elbow nudge in the same sore spot, I swear if Yuri does that one more time I'mma bite his chest.

"…Hmm, I don't know. Maybe I'll head back to Halure, too," Yuri decided, and I rolled my eyes; I didn't have to look at Kairi to know she was possibly pouting in jealousy right now.

"Huh? Why? How can you just say that? The thief's gonna get away!" Karol protested. "There's no reason to panic. According to our friend in the ruins, it sounds like his client's based there. Besides, if we're going west, that will take us closer to Halure," Yuri replied casually. "Aww man, but I…" Karol began to protest again.

"You gotta be somewhere? A sick girlfriend with an incurable disease or something?" Yuri teased him, now I had my reason to tease Karol about his love life without being suspicious. "Man, if only she really was a frail girl like that…," Karol said a bit sadly in thought. Oh I was gonna enjoy teasing Karol lots about his 'frail girlfriend', but I can't tease too much since Nan's going to fire him at Caer Bocram.

On cue, in came Rita, " I know I asked you to wait for me, but you sure made yourselves at home, didn't you?" Kairi smiled and nodded, "Oh, yes, thanks for having us." Rita looked a bit flushed, but returned her gaze back to Yuri and me, her eyes widened as if she didn't realize our position earlier, "Um why are you two cuddling on my floor?! Take that to an inn or something you…you you….perverts!"

At that Yuri visibly blanched and my face crinkled to disgust, "Fuuuuaauuuuuerrr…dge no, he's not even my type, thanks for the unpleasant images, I wanted nightmares thank you very much..."

Yuri gave me an awkward look before shuffling me off him and getting up quickly to address Rita, "Sorry for suspecting you." Rita merely scoffed, "What a heartfelt apology. I'll take it though. It worked out pretty well for me, too." She walked over to her formula, eyeing it before looking over at Estelle with curious eyes.

"Rita?" Estelle called to her a bit confused as Rita's gaze shifted between the formula and her. "Well, thanks for the hospitality," Yuri said as I got up wobbly with some support from Yuri, I was so tired I didn't even want dinner.

"What? Going so soon?" Rita asked with a very faint almost panicked and sad tone. "We don't want to overstay our welcome. Plus, we're in a bit of a hurry. Also, Liana here might just pass out any minute and roll all over your stuff damaging it," was Yuri response, which earned him a pinch on his side as I pouted at his choice in words.

"I'm so happy to have met you, Rita. I'm afraid we have to go now. I'll thank you properly later," Estelle told her. "Okay…," Was Rita's only response which sounded a tad bit creeped out with a faint hint of sadness. With that we walked out the shack, I purposely dropped my bag so we could come back, and began to head towards the center circle of Aspio.

* * *

-*- The Frail Girlfriend -*-

Estelle: So tell me about this frail girlfriend of yours, Karol.

Karol: ! Wha?!

Liana: Oh my god! Yes! Tell us about her, baby boy!

Estelle: The reason you want to go to Nor Harbor is so you can see her, isn't it?

Karol: H-how do you know about her?!

Estelle: I knew it!

Liana: *fans self* Oh my god, I'm not ready, my baby boy is growing so fast!

Karol: N-no! I mean, she's not even in Nor Harbor…Hey! Stop calling me a baby, I'm 12 years old already!

Estelle: Oh, it's not Nor Harbor?

Liana: *goofy grin* But I'm 26 and you're tiny and cute; therefore, you are baby boy to me~

Karol: I d-don't know what you're talking about!

Yuri: You might as well come clean, Karol. It's obvious Estelle and Liana aren't going to give up.

Karol: You've got it all wrong! *runs off*

Estelle: Karol…*chases*

Yuri: You're not going to chase after him, Liana?

Liana: Even baby boy needs space~

* * *

Once we hit the center of Aspio, we noticed Rita walking up to us, seems she's ready to join the party. "If you're seeing us off, we'll say goodbye here," Yuri said to her as she continually walked towards us. "I'm going with you," was Rita's simple response, yup, she wanted to examine Estelle (*cough* That sounds so kinky in many ways *cough*).

"Y-you're doing what?" Karol said in surprise, while Yuri just stared wide eyed at Rita before finally being able to speak, "Oh, so this is why you told us not to leave without saying goodbye, huh?"

"Yeah," there it was, Rita's single word response.

"Is that it? Just 'Yeah'?" Karol said almost incredibly and at the same time kind of stupefied. "Can you just leave like that? You're an important mage here right?" Yuri asked, he looked a little in thought. Rita looked in thought too, to make up her excuse to follow us, "…Hmm…" and with that look like a lightbulb went off in her head, out came her excuse and answer, "I want to see Halure's barrier Blastia for myself. It's no good to the people there if it's broken, right?"

"Actually, the five of us fixed it together," Karol chimed happily. "Huh? What do you mean you 'fixed' it? You're just amateurs," Rita scoffed at him, I kinda wanted to Gibb's slap her for that insult. "You know, we revived it. It was great! Estel-," Karol began bragging, at least until I buried his head in my breasts while Yuri covered it, "Let's just say it was beginner's luck."

"Now I'm really worried. I'll have to go see if it's been done properly or not," Rita said with her skeptical face on. "Suit yourself," was Yuri's reply with his goofy grin. I let Karol out of between my boobs since he wasn't moving so much, and I was worried I was suffocating him, but he was just fine.

Estelle ran up to Rita and grabbed both her hands making the mage a bit nervous, "W-what?!" Estelle just grinned happily, "I've never had a real friend my own age before!" (Reminds me…she's 18, Rita's 15 and Flynn and Yuri are 21…..only a 3 year gap between Estelle and them, but I think Judith is 19…so Judith is more her age than the others….)

"I-I'm not so sure we're -," Rita began stuttering as a flush covered her face (Awww she got her crush on Estelle already). "This is going to be so much fun!" Estelle said cheerfully. "Y-yeah…" Rita said nervously.

"Ah!" I shouted suddenly catching everyone's attention. "What is it?" Yuri asked a bit startled at my sudden outburst. "I left my bag back in the lab, Rita can we go get it out of your house?" I mentioned, just cause I wasn't sure if we could get Judith's Brionac without doing the sub-quest parts. "Huh? Why'd you leave it there?" Rita asked a bit angry that we weren't getting on the road. "I'm sleepy, I can't help it, I don't even want Dinner, I just want to get my bag, set up camp, and sleep…so can we go get it please?" I slightly pleaded.

After a tiny stare down, Rita gave in and we all returned to her shack to grab my bag. Yuri looked around her lab once more as I grabbed my bag from where I dropped it. "You really like blastia, don't you?" Yuri asked Rita, while Karol was checking out one of her blastias. "Hey, I told you not to touch Victoria with your grimy little hands!" Rita shouted at Karol once she noticed him.

"Vic-Victoria? Do you mean this blastia…?" Karol asked a bit confused. "How come you like them so much?" Yuri asked his own question. Rita turned to him, and spoke in her 'it's obvious' tone which changed to frustration, "How come…Because they're fun! The way they work, the theory behind them…Argh, I don't know…I've never thought about it! Can you give reasons why you like the things you like?"

"For a majority of things yes, for example: chocolate, cause it's tasty, nothing complicated, but when it comes down to certain things, I can't even figure why I like or don't like it," I responded. "Well, there are definitely some things I like for no particular reason. I guess the reason I like them is because…I like them," Yuri replied. "Exactly," was Rita's only response. With bag in hand we headed out of Aspio to set up camp, have dinner, and sleep.

* * *

-*- Traveling with This Bunch? -*-

Yuri: When we left the capital, it was just me, Repede, Kairi, Liana, and Estelle.

Estelle: Now Karol and Rita have joined us. I'm so happy to have more people to travel with!

Karol: I'm not so sure about some people in our party, though.

Rita: I'm not so sure about you, you little runt.

Yuri: Hey now, go easy on the young Captain.

Liana: Yeah, back up on baby boy or else suffer the wrath of being smothered in my boobs!

Yuri/Karol/Estelle: !

Rita: ! H-Huh?! T-the wrath of being smothered in your what now?!

Estelle: Rita, Liana, we all have to work to get along, okay?

Rita: / Oh, yeah…Right.

Liana: She had it coming *pouts*.

* * *

Camp was set, Yuri took over cooking despite my promise to cook, I was tired as fuck. I watched the others eat together as I began to fall asleep. Tomorrow would be a long day, we'd have the Tweedles, Running from them and the Red Eyes, then Gattuso…oh, but first we gotta fill in Rita on the Earth deal, unless Kairi spills it tonight...I couldn't care anymore, my eyes became so heavy, and I allowed sleep to take me, tossing, turning, and rolling in my sleep with Repede or Yuri chasing me as I rolled to push me and cause me to roll the opposite direction while I sleep talked about craving a double bacon cheeseburger like there would be no tomorrow.

* * *

God, I got this done….FINALLY a chapter done….Sorry, I cut down the words for this one by like 3,000 and 3 pages shorter than my previous chapters.

Caryn: :T

You're mad at me aren't you?

Caryn: Of course! I want to show up already ;w; I know college and your family are keeping you from it, but give me some LOVE!

We're not at you yet and there's no guarantee we'll get to you next chapter. Good news is….Classes will be done in 2 weeks….bad news is…my parents want me doing Summer classes….

Caryn: No D: You need the summer to spend time with us and do the story!

I want it for relaxation time…hopefully my parents will listen to let me relax a semester, even if it's just 2 classes they want me to take, my full attention will be on them, and the short time it is will strain me on getting them done, so getting chapters up will slow down to how it is now…I've been so stressed this semester I almost had to go to the hospital on 3 occasions due to chest tightness due to the anxiety.

Caryn: Get to me already you evil bitch D:

:P gosh be patient you whore, I'll hopefully get to you before this year ends….hopefully…

Caryn: Liana!

' _Omai wa…..Dou M, desu ka?' = You're…a major M (masochist), aren't you?_

Dou = Serious, Major (something along those lines)

M= Masochist (we all know XD)

S= Sadist (need I say more?)

Hentai = Pervert (Need I say more?)

Dere = it's a complex thing but derives from the word deredere which is like a word for lovestruck. There are many types of deres like: Tsundere, Yandere, Hajidere (Kairi's definitely this type), Bakadere, Dandere, Kuudere, etc many more. The dere I was trying to call Yuri was a Kuudere (cause he's calm, collective, and not prone to expressing or openly showing his affections, thus equals my closet romantic joke for him lolz), but he's not evil cause of that XD lolz.

PuniPuni= squishy (Someone needs to work out a little more lolz)

Urayamashii= I'm jealous/envious

Next time: Returning to Halure and possible Gattuso battle


	13. 12: I now dub thee, Gay Fish

Chapter up! FINALLY! HAPPY NEW YEAR! Having to work on not just following the game, but adding in some interactions with the characters...it's not so easy for me to get into their mind sets despite so long of playing XD lolz

Please remember, ( ) parenthesis are MY thoughts, _italics are telepathic talk between me and Kairi_

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Tales of Vesperia, Justin, or Caryn. I DO have permission to use Justin and Caryn though. I OWN myself, Kairi, and my work in this fic. That is all….

* * *

I heard Yuri's voice calling for me to wake up, and with a yawn and a stretch, I woke up…only to be met by Rita sitting beside me with her fierce studious gaze at my face. "Uh…I take it Kairi told you some things last night over dinner?" was my creeped-out response as my eyes widened a bit. "Hmm, a little," Rita's response was.

I gulped, "Uh…there will be no dissection…. right? You won't find anything new or interesting." She looked in thought which inwardly was scaring me, "Well that was our agreement, no dissection or painful tests to tell me you two are aliens." I began thanking Kairi in my head over and over, "So uh, any reason why you're staring at me?" Rita just looked in thought again before getting up and answering, "I was just monitoring some things on you while you were sleeping. This thing called a 'period', sounded interesting even if it's not blastia related, so I wanted to see if I could find a reason for why you have it."

"Well it'll be ending within a week so…uhmmm okay?" I lightly chuckled in awkwardness before getting up myself to scoot over and get my bag to take some more Midols and make some breakfast for everyone. To which Rita's eyes were on me like a hawk, even though she confiscated my Midol bottle to investigate it, she wanted to see if I could do anything miraculous or something. (What, I can't sprout 8 arms like an octopus and juggle things…)

I pulled out my Tamagoyaki pan from my bag, as well as the carton of eggs, my oil brush, my big wooden chopsticks, and got to work making Tamagoyaki for everyone. "How are you getting the eggs to roll up like that?" Rita asked curiously, kinda expecting me to have used some sort of magic. "Oh, well, I just make 1 flat egg like this, make sure it's not too thick," I began showing her step by step as I made Karol's tamagoyaki, "and then once you're at the last bit of egg like now, you brush the pan once again with oil, test to see if it's hot again, pour the egg if it's hot enough, spread the egg around thinly around and under the roll, then once it's cooked, use the chopsticks to flip and roll it along with using your wrist to help make the pan have it flip."

"How do you use those 2 pieces of sticks like that?" Rita asked about the chopsticks. (Boy she's a curious one…wait a minute, these guys are Japanese characters, with Japan origins, this might be like the X-box 360, but I'm sure I loaded up the PS3 version…. shouldn't they know how or what chopsticks are?).

"Well, these are chopsticks, some people can't use them because you gotta practice using them, my teacher taught me when I was in 4rth grade in school, why I don't know, it's not a common practice in schools," I said, kinda curious myself, "All I know is, she taught us a bit on how to hold them, we had to practice with them, and our evaluation to use them was to pick up crackers or candy out of a bowl, 10 tries, anything you successfully picked up and moved from bowl to desk without dropping it was yours to eat. So I practiced hard to get my floral candy and seaweed crackers."

I began finishing up the last tamagoyaki, answering Rita's nonstop questions, I kinda wished I could crawl back into bed with how exhausted she mentally was making me with the sheer number of them. "Guy's breakfast is up," I shouted, waking up Estelle, Kairi, and Karol, I just now noticed Yuri and Repede weren't in the merry view despite waking me up, "Where's Yuri and Repede?"

"Oh, them? They went off on a run, said they'd be right back, seems you said he was squishy, so he wants to work out," Rita answered as she began eating her tamagoyaki, "This is...okay." (Squishy? Ah….Kairi must've told him what punipuni means and he can't stand being delightfully squishy on the chest….Pfuuuuu Must not Laugh! Deep breath *inhale**exhale* Ah, the tsundere XD can't she just say it's good for once? Oh right, she only does that with Judith's cooking…..I'm slightly jealous). "Liana, what is this?" Karol asked staring down at his plate of tamagoyaki. "It's tamogoyaki; it's like a folded up and rolled egg, it's just eggs that I seasoned, I didn't add any parsley or cilantro, blegh, so it should be good," I answered (I really don't like cilantro….parsley is ok…..just no cilantro, please).

"I thought we ran out of eggs though," Estelle looked confused. "Oh, I used the ones I got at home, it seems like time is frozen on that end, so I can use up anything I want and it won't go bad so long as it's there in my bag. All I gotta do when I get home is run to the store and rebuy anything I use before my dad gets home later," I answered her as I began eating my own tamagoyaki (Yeah, I noticed things hadn't been used when I looked in my bag which means either no one has come home since then, or time froze, I chose the latter. Mmmmm, I outdo myself somethings, I made the texture just fine between eating a bit over hard and crunchy outer egg and fluffy and squishy inside~).

"But if you keep using things, wont it get expensive?" Estelle asked worriedly. "I got 1,900 to my name from what's left of my financial aid, so long as no expensive technology I bring through gets destroyed, I should have more than enough to replace food," I responded. "1,900 gald?! That's not enough! Liana, you really shouldn't, we had ingredients from Aspio, we could've used those with the recipe that Wonder Chef man gave us," Estelle began to worriedly fuss.

I felt myself sweat drop, I opened my mouth until a voice cut me off. "What's this about 1,900 gald?" Yuri said, huffing a bit as he wiped the sweat off his forehead and took a seat. Repede was already eating his food happily. Kairi's face was flushing intensely from staring at Yuri and she lowered her head to focus her sight on the food before her in her hands rather than at Yuri.

I smirked, " _Dirty thoughts again Kairi dearest? My my how indecent~_ " She jerked a little, but responded, " _Liana….not now….._ " I had to control my giggles, " _You can look at him you know, I know you want to~_ " She lightly looked at me to glare before returning her gaze to her plate, her face incredibly red. " _Oh come on, give him a peek, you might never get to see this again you know~, his flushed skin, his quick breath making his chest rise and fall, sweat dripping down his neck to his chest down to his abs, makes you wanna lick it don't it?~_ "

A crash with Kairi's head face planting into the ground after falling over and her plate ringing on the ground with the food intact and on it still, thank you very much, got everyone's attention. "K-Kairi?! Are you okay?!" Estelle cried worriedly. I grinned ear to ear, "Ah, she's okay, she's just tired she said." Rita looked between us, "So she wasn't kidding when she said you can telepathically talk to each other." I smiled bigger, "Yep!" (And I use that to tease her to no end~ Ehehehe~).

"Anyways, what was with the 1,900 gald talk," Yuri asked again taking his focus off Kairi. "Liana said she only has 1,900 gald to her name, so when she goes home she won't have enough to buy everything she uses from home," Estelle answered before I could open my mouth. "Really?" Yuri looked over to me and asked, noticing that I wanted to answer.

"NO! Earth has many currencies, but gald isn't one! I forgot to say it's 1,900 dollars. Dollars differ from gald big time like…..if bread was 80 gald, it sounds close enough to the currency of U.S. dollars, so it would be cents, cents is like something smaller than 1 dollar which is 100 cents. Ugh, this is getting complex, but, basically, if bread cost 80 gald here it would be like 80 cents on Earth (Although bread is actually up to the dollar now…), so therefore when I say I got 1,900 dollars it's like saying I got, hmmm, add two zeros…190,000 gald if dollars could be exchanged for gald at that rate," I said, making Karol cough up some of his tamagoyaki, and everyone else stared wide eyed.

"What?" was my only response to the intense stares. "So, you really are some kind of nobles, aren't you?" Rita said. "No, we're not nobles! We don't have no fancy mansion or personal maids or butlers! We live under a democracy, not monarchy! GAH! Don't get me started on politics and social status, history and government were never my strongest suits in school!" I shouted rubbing my head around to show my frustration at the subject and just began scarfing down my tamagoyaki.

"So, if you're not a noble, how do you have an amount about equal to 190,000 gald and could afford a school?" Yuri asked raising an eyebrow. "Financial aid," was my answer after I forced myself to swallow a mouthful of eggs, "I get financial aid for attending college, the government gives you a specific amount of money you can spend per semester I think and for paying to enter it if you qualify…I think…either way I qualified, they gave me like 5,000 dollars or something, but after paying for tuition, fees, books, and parking permit and stuff, I ended up down to 1,900 after this upcoming semester."

"What's a college?" Estelle asked. "Umm, you guys got any form of higher educational teaching here like an institute or a University?" I asked around. "Well, we do have an institute in Aspio, it specializes in various theories about Blastia, I had thought about it once, but learning about theories that haven't been proven just wasn't for me. I want to be the one to prove my own theories rather than learn about someone else's biased opinions. Though, there is one degree I wish I could get my hands on," Rita stated. (Gotta be that Miska Doctoral Degree, oh trust me she'll get it….maybe…I forget I'm not controlling her to get the answers this time.)

"Well….yeah…basically, that's what college is, it's like an institute for learning things and to gain degrees. I'm enrolled in the Texas Woman's University, so that's about it," I answered, getting back to eating my plate. "What are you enrolled for? What's your major?" Rita asked curiously. "Umm, kinda going for an Education major ECL-6 with an Art major too, cause I want to be a kindergarten art teacher," I answered.

"That sounds fun," Estelle said happily. "Yeah…not gonna get into this anymore, I'm hungry, and we're trying to get to Halure soon, right?" I said, making Estelle both pout a little that the conversation wasn't continuing, but nod since she wanted to get to Flynn. "Alright then, lets just eat up then," Yuri said with a smirk on his face. Kairi got up and her gaze returned to her plate as she ate.

* * *

-*- Tamagoyaki -*-

Karol: It's so crunchy and yet so fluffy, how'd you do that?

Liana: Huh? My tamagoyaki pan, it's made specifically to help me with shaping it, and you just cook thin sheets of egg and roll them together. It's not hard to do; even if you can't figure how to do with chopsticks, you can use 2 spatulas. 1 to hold and position the egg and the other to roll or flip it without leaving a huge flap like my little brother does.

Rita: Hm, I'll have to see that method, those sticks looked like they could be a pain to learn to use.

Estelle: Really? I'd love to learn if you can show me how to make it with either the sticks or the spatulas, Liana.

Liana: Uhm…Estelle….as someone learning to cook period….please just….stick to practicing Sandwiches first before jumping to Tamagoyaki…please…

Yuri: Though, why'd you make it in the first place? We got the ingredients for Salisbury Steaks from that weird guy back in Aspio and you bought ingredients there too, why waste the eggs from your house?

Liana: …..I can't….fucking….read…..the RECIPE!

Yuri: ! Oh, right.

* * *

-*- Teach Me 1-*-

Estelle: Uhm, Liana….

Liana: Hm? What up Ms. Pink Lemonade?

Estelle: Huh? Pink Lemonade? That's not it, uh well, it's just, you and Kairi can't read our language, right?

Liana: Yep*pop*

Estelle: So, I was wondering, if you'd like me to show you how to read our language? I mean it's like the same structure as this English language of yours, just different lettering.

Liana: Yep*pop*

Estelle: And then…ummm, can you also show me how to read your lettering too? The books that Kairi showed last night and told me about sound so fascinating!

Rita: Yeah, the same lettering was on the screen of that thing she called a phone too. Problem was it requires a password, and I couldn't get passed that, though what was up with that shirtless guy on the screen?!

Liana: *cough* *cough* My PHONE?! B-Books?! W-What books?! Oh….got a look at Shu huh? Like what you see? *wink*

Rita: Pft, as if! Who wants to see some guy shirtless on a screen anyways?!

Estelle: Um, she called the love story one Romeo and Juliet, while the other one was a children's book called Green Eggs and Ham I believe.

Liana: Oh….those ones….yeah sure, you teach me and I'll teach you, just no reading my diaries, no stealing my phone if I have it out, and those two books along with Hamlet are probably the only ones you can read….

Rita: Oh, got some secrets do you? *smirks*

Liana: You're not one to talk Ms. Magazine Drawer…

Rita:….W-Will you let that drop!

Liana: Nope, I was mentally scarred for life….blest you ever find my rather large yaoi doujinshi stash….may you be forever scarred in return~ *smirks*

Rita: *face red*

* * *

As Halure's large tree came into sight, along with a few Rhinossus, Rita could only stare in awe at the tree as we quickly defeated the monsters and finally entered the town. Rita gaped for a short while before she remembered she could talk, "H-hey! The tree's already blooming?"

"Heh heh. I told you! We brought the tree back to life," Karol bragged. There went Rita to karate chop him on the head, and he fell down holding his head rubbing it in pain. He didn't have any angry expression, just a bit of pain, he didn't look like he'd physically retaliate against her ever either, probably been raised told that men shouldn't hit women. The poor kid has been kicked out of guilds, picked on, and put down possibly a good majority of his life…just like me. That's probably why I felt this burning maternal need to protect him.

I walked up and chopped Rita on the head before she could run off towards the tree. "Ow! What was that for?!" Rita shouted a bit at me. "Seeing how you like it? I may have been raised being told, 'you treat others how you wish to be treated', but I don't appreciate a bully. Every time you hit him, I'm gonna hit you in return since he doesn't seem the type to hit a girl in retaliation," I angrily told her in a tone that matched my mother's many stern lectures towards me.

She merely looked pouty at me with a small hint of anger, but opted to running to go check out the tree. I couldn't tell if she was either hating me or just seeing me as an irritating person, possibly both and I didn't really care if she did like me, I just need her to do what she does for the sake of the plot like she'd do without us anyway….

Before Estelle or Yuri could open their mouths to say something, a familiar voice cut in, "Oh, you've returned! Just as the knight said," the mayor shouted towards us. We all gathered in front of the gates to his house, except Rita, who was now examining he tree. "Umm…do you mean Flynn?" Estelle asked happily. The mayor bowed/nodded slightly before answering, "Unfortunately, you just missed him."

"No way! Not again…," Karol said sadly and a bit pouty. "GAH! That does it, I'm pulling out my special bead bracelet and cursing Flynn with bad hair days like I promised last time," I said as I scrounged in my bag with Estelle staring wide eyed, while Yuri had his goofy look on. Kairi was just sweat dropping, but she knew I was irritatingly serious.

"He was quite surprised that the barrier had been fixed," the mayor continued. I pulled out my bead bracelet and nudged Yuri, "Too bad you didn't get to see the look on Flynn's face like you wanted to." He grinned at me with his goofy face and I wanted to start laughing, until Estelle cut our thoughts.

"Umm…would you happen to know which way he went?" Estelle asked the mayor. "No…I'm sorry, I don't know…," the mayor responded quickly before turning to Yuri, "However, he did entrust me with a letter." He walked over and handed Yuri the letter before bowing to Kairi, Yuri, and me gratefully and walking back into his home.

Opening the letter, Yuri pulled out his wanted poster, along with Kairi's poster and mine. (Seriously who drew these?! Hire me as the artist, you'll get better results XD). Everyone looked shocked except for Kairi, Yuri, and I. Like, seriously….we snuck into Aspio, we've been running from the tweedles, Yuri explained we were jail breakers….why are these guys so surprised?

"Wha? A-a wanted poster? F-for you three? Wh-why?" Karol asked startled….Seriously?...Did my brain just fart and imagine when I thought Yuri said the knights were after us for jail break in the Quoi Woods? "I guess we made a little too much mischief…," Yuri joked. "W-what kind of mischief gets you into this?!" Karol shouted. "I-it's my fault…," Estelle said worriedly.

"Oh come on…Only 5,000 gald?" Yuri scoffed, before his eyes widened and he whined, "How come Liana's is 21,000 gald and I'm at 5,000 gald?" (Huh….21k gald….me?) "Now that's way too high for just breaking out of jail! You guys must have done something else!" Karol shouted again.

"Well lets see….I smashed a knights face in with Kairi's staff and punched one hard enough to make him piss himself back at the castle during our jail break….I fought a knight in Deidon hold….I threatened to rip the eyeballs out of a knight and piss in them as well as castrate and rape him with his own stick back in Aspio…yeah that warrants 21,000 gald; I'm violence happy," I smiled proudly that I one upped Yuri, although Karol looked about ready to run for the hills. (Though only 5,000 gald for kidnapping the Imperial Princess? Come on, a trip to Yumanju is like 300,000 gald, but kidnapping the princess is 5,000?! Give the people a free all-expense paid trip to and from Yumanju for one day at least, a lot of people can't even get that).

Yuri scoffed again at my boasting, and looked at Kairi's, "Wow Kairi, a measly 100 gald, I doubt anyone would even bother with turning you in." I'm sure I made a funny face right now, "Why would anyone bother trying to arrest someone for what equivalates to a dollar on Earth?" Everyone shrugged and Yuri looked about ready to toss aside our posters. "Wait!" I snatched my poster from Yuri's grip, which made him turn to me in surprise, "If it's a wanted poster then that top line has to say 'WANTED', that's 6 free letters in the alphabet to learn!"

"Sure, go nuts," Yuri chuckled as I began studying….my brain was frying….I mean some letters looked like English writing turned at a 90 degree angle, but the rest was….ugh. I began plugging in the new letters into the rest of the poster and tried reading, no good other than the '-ewa-d' at the bottom which I figured meant 'reward' since both symbols were the same. Hurray! An extra letter.

I heard Yuri snicker a bit, probably I was making funny faces to figure this out, it happens a lot when I have to think. "S-so, what does the letter say?" Estelle asked worriedly, wanting to know what Flynn said, like right now. Yuri just handed her over the letter for her to read herself.

"I'm going to Nor Harbor," Estelle read, "Catch up with me." Yuri looked a bit in thought, "Catch up with me, huh? Easy for him to say." I stopped my studying to throw in my two cents as well, "YEAH! I mean he probably is on a moving transport like a stallion or carriage! We're on two feet here!"

I then remembered I wanted to curse him and began shaking my beaded bracelet and thought of a rhyme, "Bad hair days for 1 week I say! I'll have it no other way! This guy named Flynn, with his hair he must pay~!"

Everyone sweat dropped as Kairi came out of her stupor to talk, "Uhm…Liana, I'm pretty sure that's not how you curse someone…" I turned to her with a look of frustration, "What?! So you want me to sacrifice a live chicken or something like they do in the movies or rumors? That's so sick! The department of randomly bursting into rhyme or song should be more than enough to curse him."

"You don't really think that'll work, right?" Karol asked with a 'you're kidding' tone. "Of course it will! Or my name isn't Liana Elizabeth Mia De La Croa Juanita Oscar Bravado Cortez Banda!...WHICH IT'S NOT!...THE MIDDLE PART THAT IS!" I said; I was getting bored, but I had barely set my phone to resync with things removed from my phone, and some new songs added…so I couldn't hear them just yet, plus I was freaked out that Rita may come back to take my phone and break it once I insert my password.

"Uhhh, well, he also writes that we should watch out for assassins," Estelle broke the awkward moment up…or should I say made it more awkward as Yuri gave me and Kairi a glance before returning his attention to the conversation with Estelle. "Wow, he even knows we're being hunted!" Yuri said a tiny bit surprised. "Sounds like this guy knows what he's doing," Karol said a bit surprised.

I noticed Yuri's gaze toward us once more, and my mind just processed the rest. " _He thinks we're assassins…_ " I told Kairi. " _…I suppose…we are awkward, you're violent, and we did pop out of no where…but….I still don't think he…I mean, he hasn't said we are…and he's treated us kindly..._ " Kairi said sadly, her belief in Yuri and the current gauging of the situation wasn't helping that belief. " _But, he possibly is thinking of it as a possibility. Hehe, if we're assassins, does that mean we can execute a leap of faith and nail it?! OMG THAT WOULD BE AWESOME!_ " I began fangirling. " _…_ " Kairi couldn't even think of anything to say, it must suck being in love with the oblivious guy who thinks you're out to kill him and has a thing for fucking pink princesses.

"Looks like we have some dangerous people after us now. What are you gonna do?" Yuri asked Estelle. "Well…umm…" Estelle looked down in thought, you could tell she wanted to both return to the castle, but find Flynn too…she needs to get practice with priorities, friends first! "I'm going to go to Nor Harbor. I could pass on a message for you, if you want," Yuri offered her. "But…I…," now Estelle was giving puppy eyes, she wants to go along so bad it's obvious, it was almost pathetic to see her struggling to say 'take me with you'.

"You all think about what you want to do. I'm gonna go make sure Rita isn't causing too much trouble," Yuri told everyone before running off. Karol walked off on his own to look around also. Repede merely yawned and sat beside Kairi as he did when not following Yuri. Seems Yuri was about to give her the talk about not getting reckless with Estelle. (Huh…and leaving us here with Estelle means…we're not assassins to him…sheesh, he's like a ninja with reading people, but we can't read him…NOT FAIR…)

"What we want to do…What do I want to do…," Estelle began speaking to herself. I just kept my eyes peeled around, I knew the tweedles were gonna be here soon, and I couldn't see the Red Eyes anywhere. "Liana, Kairi, what are you both planning to do?" Estelle asked us curiously.

"Easy, we're both gonna follow Yuri and find a way back home," I simply answered. "How is following Yuri going to help you get home though?" Estelle asked a bit worried. "Dunno, but I had a thought. We landed in HIS cell, not just anywhere like Justin was, that has to mean something, plus he knows our secret, also we're kinda wanted criminals now, so yeah…just sitting still doing nothing would get us put behind bars, and it's what WE wanna do" I said before spotting the small shapes of the tweedles arriving in the distance. "What you want to do…," Estelle said as she returned to her thoughts.

After about 7 more minutes of silence Repede crouched down in front of Kairi and growled at the oncoming knights. "Lady Estellise, thank goodness you're alright!" I heard Boccos say. "I say! It's the two women who were collaborating with Yuri Lowell!" Adecor said. "Nice to see you too, Mr. Gay Fish," I joked (Seriously…he looks like a Magikarp with that squished face, his whiskers, and those lips…seriously WHY XD…but Magikarp evolves into Gyarados….so yeah he can't be a Gyarados, so he's a gay fish…).

Adecor didn't seem to fond of his new nickname, but Boccos was laughing his fat round body off (Seriously, does he even have an ass?). I racked my brain for a nickname for him, his irritating tone, he's tiny, and fat….couldn't think of anything that wasn't common, "I'll have a nickname for you too Tweedle B, just give me some time!"

At that Boccos stopped laughing and was now glaring at me too as Leblanc came in, "You two! You both are under arrest for assault on the knights, breaking into the Imperial Capital's Castle, and accomplices in a kidnapping!" I merely rolled my eyes, "My how knightly of you to assume guilt without knowing facts from exaggerated rumors, but I won't deny being violence happy. Though in our case, the 'assault on the knights' was self defense on our part, they came at us with weapons swinging, which could have KILLED us, we hit them, simple (Deidon hold and Aspio weren't self defense though XD). 'Breaking into the Imperial Castle', we never broke 'in', we found ourselves inside a cell with no reason and wanted out! (Kinda true, we did just pop in there cause of Kairi). And 'kidnapping'?! We ain't kidnapped anyone that we know of, I threatened a knight for being a wuss, but nothing THAT extreme (*cough* Your princess simply decided she didn't want to be in that castle *cough*). Though if you come at me with your weapons too, I will fight you if I have to"

Kairi kept silent as Repede kept in front of her, she's not one to pick fun at or mess with denizens of the law. Karol was running towards the tree, to possibly go get Yuri. Leblanc merely glared at me, not believing my words one bit, and all three decided to converse with Estelle as I noticed Yuri and Rita in the distance making their way back with Karol.

"Now, come back with us while you can!" Leblanc shouted. "I say, we've come to courteously escort you back to the capital!," Adecor chimed in happily. "And then we can clamp these villains and Yuri in chains where they belong!" Boccos added. A lightbulb popped in my head a bit, "Oh! What about Pervit, Tweedle B?!" Boccos looked taken aback, "Pervit?" I nodded like crazy, "YEAH! Cause back at Quoi woods, you were sexually harassing us with words, and now you bring up hints of BDSM, you're TOTALLY A PERVERTED MIDGET, PERVIT!"

" I am not a pervert or midget!" Boccos argued, getting red in the face. "Awww, but Midget is a common nickname, and no way am I calling you Goshujin-sama to satisfy your desires," I pouted. Boccos was getting redder by the second and Yuri waltzed up in time, "A perverted midget, huh?"

"I've been waiting for you, Yuri Looowell! Don't you move a muscle!" Leblanc shouted at Yuri who looked like he could care less. "Jeez, this guy never lets up, does he?" Yuri directed at, me? "Yep, seriously. He must not get laid much. My ears really need to be spared," I pouted as I rubbed my ears, to which I plugged as Leblanc began to shout once more. "My love life is nothing to discuss! Yuri! An old acquaintance you may be, but today I can overlook your transgressions no longer!" Leblanc shouted (Seriously…we're in front of you, what the hell is with the shouting?!)

"Yuri, Kairi, and Liana aren't bad people. I asked them to go with me!" Estelle tried to argue, but- "Argh, Yuri! You!" Leblanc pointed to, me…, "You fiends! You both are coercing Lady Estellise!"

"No! This is what I really want!" Estelle shouted angrily (That coming from a girl who was still deciding moments ago) "I'll go back to the castle. Just leave me be for a little longer!" I had my poker face, "If you mean, teaching her life lessons, yeah, but other than that no. And FYI she's still stupid at them, if this was a class I'd give her an F," I couldn't state my opinion anymore clearer. Though my choice of words didn't side well with the knights before us, but they did a phenomenal job keeping their heads around their princess.

"I cannot allow that! Return to the castle with us!" Leblanc said sternly. "I can't go back. Please understand this!" Estelle argued after getting over my F grade. "We have no choice. We'll have to apprehend the three criminals as well…" Leblanc said to Adecor and Boccos, who nodded and removed their weapons to come to apprehend us. (Hurray another tutorial…Overlimit time I think!) I got my sheep knuckles on and Kairi grabbed her staff quickly, we knew after this, there was gonna be a lot of running.

"Kiss your freedom goodbye, for it ends today!" Boccos shouted, which earned my response, "I PLEAD THE FIRST! I know my right! Take them away and I shall fight!" Kairi tilted her head, "Isn't that from that long rhyme from the Odyssey site?" I nodded grinning stupidly, "Yup!"

"I say, prepare to face the Imperial Knights' ultimate fighting arte, the Over Limit!" Adecor shouted pridefully. "The Over Limits doesn't belong to the Knights! Anyone can do it, last time I checked," Yuri said with his sighing face. "Yeah! Get your copyrights straight!" I shouted. "I say, be quiet!" Adecor shouted back angrily. "You can't make me, you've got no rights to cut off my Bill of Rights, First Amendment right to freedom of speech!" I argued back.

"Yuri, what's an Over Limit?" Karol inched forward and asked as he held his hammer at the ready. "It's a technique to increase your abilities while fighting. How do you do it again?" Yuri asked himself as he answered Karol's question. "You fool! How could you forget something like that?" Boccos shouted, outraged that an ex-knight would just FORGET how to Over Limit. "I say, I shall jog your memory! But after that, I say, I shall give you a non-stop ticket on the train of death!" Adecor stated which made my head spin (Ok….so a chivalrous knight talks about death when he's suppose to be arresting the culprit…idiot XD ). "Ok…so the chivalrous knights that are sent to capture us, want to kill us….yeah I'm hitting you guys hard then," I decided with a smirk, I knew they wouldn't do that, though I made them glare a bit harder.

Adecor rolled his eyes and charged at Yuri to continue the demonstration, that ridiculous run of his was so ridiculous and slow, Yuri could easily evade, "First-Attack!" Miss. "Curse you! Yaaah! Attack! Attack!" Adecor shouted as he tried attacking Yuri who was just smoothly evading him. "Oh, right," Yuri said as the lightbulb in his head went off, "You attack the enemy, and that raises your battle spirit." Boccos wasn't happy though, "Blast! Your hits aren't connecting at all!"

One swing from Yuri and Adecor was on his back, "Ack…!" He got up slowly, "Ouch… I say, that hurt…I cannot…I say, stand this any longer…!" I blinked a few times, "Really….that was just one hit…" (And what's with this guy saying 'I say' all the time….it's like Deidara and 'uns' XD). "Oh yeah, your battle spirit goes up if you're attacked, too," Yuri said as another lightbulb clicked, "All right…and then, if you release the battle spirit that you've stored up…" (Reminds me of when Uryu began explaining about Ichigo's powers when they first faced a Menos…the Faucet method XD).

"I'll blow you away!" was Yuri's iconic Over Limit line (My dirt brain….it's triggered XD). With that Adecor was sent flying away a few feet, landing on his back (Ouch, that had to hurt). "Wow…Yuri, that's amazing…," Karol said in absolute awe of the swordsman.

"We mustn't let his power charge up anymore!" Boccos shouted to Adecor. "I've got you just where I want you…," Yuri said, to which I tilted my head his direction and gave him a wicked crooked smile, "Yuri...Please, stop activating my dirt brain." He sweat dropped as the tweedles charged us. They were pretty easy to avoid, and I got to thinking, Over Limit is all 'battle spirit' not aer, it should be doable, and I've been sassy for days which is like taunts, and taunts fill the gauge a lot…so….to release it…how?

"How would you release battle spirit?" I said in thought as I evaded Boccos's roll. "Liana, stay focused," Yuri shouted at me. "Bruh! Let me think! I'm figuring this whole Over Limits thing, so chi-," I began saying until a light enveloped me and tada, shininess! Everyone froze and stared at me with wide eyes. "Whoa…Liana, how'd you do that?!" Karol asked with sparkly eyes, wanting to do it too. "Spirit….just be you and shout something like cheerleaders do, I don't care if it's 'I'm a fluffy unicorn' or something," I said with a plain, I don't give a fuck anymore look.

7 on 2 wasn't much of a challenge, I soon found myself sitting on Boccos as Yuri was using Adecor as a punching bag, everyone just hanging back since Adecor looked like it wouldn't be long till he'd fall. "Get off me!" Boccos shouted, but he couldn't get me off. "Nope, sorry Pervit, no can do, you're too comfy," I complimented. "Stop calling me that, I have a name," Boccos shouted in anger. "Pervit won't do? Fine then how about….AH! I shall call him Squishy and he shall forever be my chair, and he shall forever remain Squishy!" I shouted triumphantly causing Adecor to stop running around and laugh at Boccos who was now pouting under me big time.

As I thought for a few seconds I recalled my phone was syncing, it should be done by now. I rummaged through my bag and pulled it out, I put my headphones on my head, and set the phone to play 'Moonlight Shadow'. Rita was now in front of me with very Studious eyes, she wanted that phone NOW. "Nuh uh, you keep your hands off my phone or else I'll shout your secret for everyone to hear!" I shouted in desperation, keeping my phone from her grasp. At that she turned red and pouted, I sighed, "I'm not doing anything 'interesting' anyways, just some music, sheesh, I'll show you some features on it later," I told her to get her attention off me for a while. She nodded and gave me that look like 'you better remember that'.

I turned to look at Yuri and Adecor to see that they weren't done yet. Seriously, it shouldn't take that long, "Yuri, you having trouble with the Gay Fish?" At that Yuri turned to me with big eyes, he hadn't heard Adecor's nickname, and Adecor wasn't happy, "I say, I am not a fish, nor am I gay!" I stared at him with his pucked up face look…seriously how is he not a fish? "You're not happy? Gay means happy too you know, whatever did you think I meant? But you look like a fish and you're always with a sausage party, so you gotta be a gay fish yo…oh no…"I began sassing, until my head was now filled with that Kanye song…NO!

"Liana, you okay there? You look sick," Yuri said to me as apparently I had gone pale and blue with how annoyed I was getting with that song in my head. That annoyance turned to anger, my period making my emotions sway, I was getting pissed, "Yuri….stand down now, I'mma smack him around a bit. You step in I'll fight you too…" Yuri looked surprised to say the least, "Huh? The hell, why're you getting mad at me for?"

"GAHHH! JUST LET ME AT HIM! IT'S GAY FISH'S FAULT I GOT THE GAY FISH SONG IN MY HEAD WHILE I WAS ENJOYING MOONLIGHT SHADOW! I GOTTA SMACK HIM AROUND! AND IF YOU STOP ME I'LL GET YOU TOO! YOU HEAR ME LOWELL?!" I shouted in frustration, going into Over Limits again. I needed to punch something and Gay Fish was the only sacrifice available. Yuri jolted and stepped aside, he knew when I meant things and when I didn't…right now, I meant it. I took a deep breath and used a calm cool voice as I pointed at Adecor, "You get over here…I'm going to hit you with so many rights, you're gonna beg for a left." Adecor swallowed hard as Karol stared in awe at how 'awesome' I was being, while Kairi was giggling her ass off at my Chuck Norris impression. Adecor obeyed and charged over, many rights were thrown, with 1 left that was begged for.

"Nice work men," Yuri said cheekily at the two sprawled on the ground due to my wrath. These guys could take a beating, I'll give them that. "I'm sorry, I can't go back," Estelle said weakly. "Urrgh! What a shame!" Leblanc said at the two on the ground as he himself began to charge us.

"Uh, Rita…" Karol said nervously as she began charging up some fireballs. Ching. Done. She fired at them, hitting all three of them, yep these guys are immortal. "She says she's not going back, so get lost!" Rita shouted at the three stooges. Estelle's gasp caught our attention though, "Yuri! It's them again!"

We looked over and up, above the area atop the shop, lo and behold, the red eyes were there staring back at us and began running this way. "Damn it. I knew they were still after us," Yuri said frustrated as he suddenly began to think. "What is it this time?!" Rita said, getting frustrated herself. "Wh-what do you mean?" Karol said nervously. That made my head tilt (Didn't he mention the red eyes and the knights being after us? I thought he knew…weird).

Yuri finally snapped out of his thoughts, "I'll explain later! Karol, which way is Nor Harbor?" Karol thought for one sec before answering, "Uh, ah, it's west! West! You go over Ehmead Hill and Capua Nor is right there." As quickly as Karol answered, Yuri bolted to lead the way for us as we followed…except for Estelle. "All right, let's go now, then," Rita told her. "But, I can't…" was Estelle's common reply. I was about to blow a fuse until, "…Argh! Now I see what makes Liana so frustrated with you! You said, 'I can't go back', so which is it?! Make a decision! Which do you really want to do? Keep traveling with us, or go home?" Rita burst, causing Estelle to think.

"ESTELLE!" I shouted loudly. She turned to me confused as I pointed at her and shouted again, "F!" She looked taken aback for a second until she turned to Rita and answered, "…I'm going to keep traveling." Rita looked pleased that one of her research subjects was staying, "A wise choice! And one that those knights surely wouldn't be able to agree with."

Estelle and Rita ran towards us and ran by us with Karol, Kairi, and Repede, as Yuri talked to Leblanc as they got up from their dirt nap, "Imperial Knight Point #1, 'With this sword I shall protect the people,' wasn't it?" Leblanc quickly noticed the oncoming red eyes, and with that realized the danger we were all in, mainly Estelle, "Indeed! Come on boys, let's show them what the Imperial Knights are made of!"

Yuri and I ran back to catch up with the others, Yuri just blowing past me and Estelle. "…I'm sorry," Estelle stopped to say as she stared at the knights. "Estelle, they're big boys, plus Imperial Knight's Point #1, it's apparently in their job description, they'll be fine. Now let's go before we're caught and carved up into a zillion pieces!" I argued with her, to which she just nodded and ran with me towards the others.

* * *

-*- Estelle's Grade -*-

Estelle: Uhm, Liana…what did you mean by F earlier?

Liana: Huh? Oh, that's your grade for this semester thus far.

Estelle: Huh? My grade? *looks taken aback*

Liana: Mhm, you got a lot to learn, and there's no textbook for this stuff. So be prepared for some grueling tests, troublesome choices, and many failing grades if you don't pick it up!

Estelle: F-Failing?! Oh no! Is there any make up assignments I can do?! How long do I have until the next test?!

Liana: Well let's see, along with these informal assessments, you will have formal assessments when the lessons for English begin, but so far-

Karol: Wow. Liana's getting into that teacher role, huh?

Kairi: And Estelle's falling in line with it *sweat drop*

Rita: What a pair of weirdos.

Yuri: But that's Liana for you, turning lectures into ridiculous skits…

* * *

-*-The Mystical iPhone-*-

Liana: *humming Gigantic OTN*

Estelle: Liana? What are you doing?

Liana: *humming still*

Kairi: She can't hear you Estelle, she's listening to music, give me a minute, I'll-

Estelle: Oh! It sounds so magical! What kind of music? How does it play music? Just what is it anyways?

Kairi: It's an iPhone, back on Earth it's used to make long distance calls to people, but it also has functions for games, oh but those need a network to connect to. It can play music, take pictures, write notes, check the weather though that also needs a network, and let's see, it can record things from things going on to vocals and-

Rita: It can do all that? I don't believe it. I'll have to check it when I see it.

Kairi: Uhm, I don't think Liana would let you examine it though.

Liana: *still humming*

* * *

We fought a ton of monsters on the way, Ehmead Hill wasn't too far away, but we needed a breather. I laid down on the ground exhausted after we cleaned up some Rhinossus, Kairi panted a bit, "Will they ever end.." Karol was panting too, "Yeah…They're really on us, today…" Yuri looked a tiny bit worn, but was his usual poker self, "I didn't think my luck would be this bad today." Rita looked up at him angrily a bit, "You're cursed, you know that."

"Or…it could be, that they smell the blood of someone who can't stop bleeding!" I pouted and whined in one. Everyone turned to me and remembered what I said about my period, though Kairi filled in Rita. "Oh, right. Forgot about that," Yuri said awkwardly.

"So basically, the fact that we're being mobbed by monsters is your fault," Rita said a tad bit angrily. "Hey, it's not like I ASKED to get my period, hell, I don't even want it. You can trade with me if you want," I pouted a bit angrily back. "Oh come on, it can't be that bad," Rita argued back. I stood up and set my hands on my hips, "I need to change so, if you think it's not that bad, take a look." With that said I walked behind a large boulder that was sitting in the plains, taking my bag with me to take some more Midols and a change from Underwear and Pads to Adult Pampers since I had a shed full (Hey! Don't judge me! I bleed heavy! Pampers keep from my favorite panties being stained!).

I pulled out everything I needed from my bag and noticed Rita, staring at me, observing what I have to do for my period. I pulled off my panties from the back of my skirt to avoid flashing the front to Rita, but the sight of my pad on my underwear was enough for her. Rita turned white as a ghost and walked off silently, I listened and heard a thump on the other end of the boulder and Estelle's concerned filled voice, "Rita! Are you okay?!" In a shaky voice that made me smirk, Rita finally spoke up, "S-So much….Blood…." I put on a pouty tone despite I wanted to laugh my ass off, "Hey, how do you think I feel losing it?"

After a fresh change, I came out from behind the boulder. "I believe now, I owe you that promise on showing you my iPhone," I said to Rita, but held a strict gaze, "but, you're not confiscating it. I only have 1 phone, 1 way to hear music, many precious memories and photos on it, and if it breaks… nothing in heaven or hell will save you from my wrath."

I lowered the phone to show Rita as the other's crowded around, staring at the lock screen with a pin up dakimakura version of Sakamaki Shu on the screen. "Seriously, why do you have a shirtless guy on your phone?" Rita argued, her cheeks flushed staring at Shu. "Let me answer that question with a better question, why wouldn't a normal, healthy adult female NOT have a shirtless guy on their phone?" I asked back with a smirk. "Ok that makes NO sense!" Rita argued back still.

"Any who. There's no satellites, cellular towers, or phone networks here, so making calls on this thing is impossible," I stated after logging in, making sure to cover up the phone so no one sees my password, showing Rita the call button. "How do you know it doesn't work?" Estelle asked. "Cause if it could, I'd be spamming Justin's phone about now, asking if he's got any leads yet," I answered her back, to which she just went 'oh'.

"And see this lens right here? That's the camera for taking pictures!" I showed them, getting a bit excited to finally be the one to show people how to use a phone! (No seriously…..no one ever comes to me for advice…and if the teacher needs help with 'new technology', they never pick me to help them amongst the hands thrown up : ).

"Cool! Take a picture of us!" Karol said excitedly, his fists shaking up and down in that funny animation the characters make in the game when their excited. "Ok! Come here then Karol," I said pointing to the spot beside me. He quickly sat beside me as I hit the flip camera button, "You see that tiny dot on the front of the phone? That's a camera too! Though taking a picture with it is considered a Selfie." Karol's eyes lit up, big time, "Hey, cool! I'm on the screen!" A quit hit of the shutter button and I had a selfie with Karol, I was inwardly fangirling right now. I pulled up the photo and showed everyone, "See, like that." Karol was just sparkly eyed, I wanted to laugh so bad.

"That's amazing," Estelle said with wide eyes. "And it can also record! Like this!" I hit the record button and shifted it to stare at Yuri, "Do something!" His eyes just widened, "Huh? What am I supposed to do precisely?" I pouted, "Anything! Fly! Do jumping jacks! STATE YOUR UNDYING LOVE FOR FLYNN! Or put your hands up like paws and go Nyaaa~!" Yuri looked stumped still with a hint of grossed out, but he took his usual hand on hip pose, "Yeah, I'm not gonna do any of that." I nodded and stopped recording, "Good enough, now looky!" I put down the phone and showed them the video of Yuri refusing to do things, "See, it can record things, those records are called videos, multiple shots can go into a video, though those are smaller, less than 10 minutes long. If you put multiple shots of videos together with a goal, theme, and story, you get a movie, though people usually make those MUCH MORE elaborate and they're like hours long."

"So, it's like holding a piece of the present, which later in the future will become the past. That's so nice," Estelle said dreamily. "Yeah! It's like totally awesome!" Karol said excitedly. "Hmm, might be good for making memos or visual journals for discoveries and tests, but other than that, I don't see the appeal," Rita said slightly impressed with the phone. "Anyways, a lot of features and games wont work since there isn't a connection. Though music plays just fine~. I also got music videos on here, but I got gigabytes of music on here…" I said, pausing when I saw Estelle and Rita preparing to ask a question, "which means a lot, don't ask for the details on the difference in a byte, megabyte, gigabyte and so forth…it's just a lot of data space. Though, I still got plenty more space for taking pictures, recording, heck even adding more videos and music on here if I want."

"How does the music play?" Estelle asked, eager to hear 'Earth' music. "Well, I got a list here," I said as I opened the music app, "You just normally pick what you want to hear, then, it plays." Estelle and Karol were starry eyed, "Can we hear a song then, please?" They both asked simultaneously, that I began scurrying through my list, "Sure, well, uhm, thing is, I mainly got A LOT of Japanese songs…and translating seems like a pain…but let's see, something in English…or no words at all…"

"I don't mind listening to a song in another language, it actually sounds fascinating," Estelle cheered. "What about that one you were hearing earlier?" Karol asked. "Huh? The Moonlight Shadow?" I blinked and began thinking (…I just had to pick an ominous one that might make miss pretty pink princess here panic about Flynn….). I looked at Estelle and Karol poker faced, "Nope," simple answer, but both began pouting. "Why NOT?!" They both pouted. "Cause I don't wanna hear it and it's my phone, so no, now let's see," (Actually…I wanna hear the heck outta it…) was my reply as I scrolled up and down for something to hear.

"What about your favorite song?" Estelle asked, she felt certain this time would work. "My favorite, huh, I got so many favorites…but if I had to pick my ABSOLUTE…" I said as I clicked the song, "I'll say this now, it's in Japanese, so I'm not translating it if you ask."

'hawatari suu SENCHI no fushinkan ga  
ageku no hate joumyaku wo sashichatte  
byoujaku na ai ga tobidasu monde  
RESUPOORU sae mo  
kyouki ni kaete shimaimashita

NOOFIKUSHON

suugaku to rika wa suki desu ga  
kokugo ga doumo DAME de kirai deshita  
tadashii no ga doreka nayande irya  
doremo fuseikai to iu OCHI deshita

honjitsu no shukudai wa mukosei na boku no koto  
kafusoku nai fujiyuu nai saikin ni ikite ite  
demo doushite bokutachi wa tokidoki ni iya mainichi  
kanashii tte iunda  
sabishii tte iunda

kokuban no kono kanji ga yomemasu ka  
ano ko no shinshou wa yomemasu ka  
sono kokoro wo kuroku someta no wa  
oi dare nanda yo oi dare nanda yo

soroban de kono shiki ga tokemasu ka  
ano ko no kubi no wa mo tokemasu ka  
bokutachi kono manma de iindesu ka  
oi dou sunda yo mou dou datte ii ya

itsumade tattatte bokutachi wa  
zonzai na saimin ni yotte ite  
doushiyou mo nai kurai no kyougou wo  
zutto kakumatte itanda

kinou no shukudai wa aikawarazu tokenai ya  
kafusoku nai fujiyuu nai saikin ni ikite ite  
demo doushite bokutachi no munamoto no katamari wa  
kietai tte iunda  
shinitai tte iunda

kokuban no kono kanji ga yomemasu ka  
ano ko no shinshou wa yomemasu ka  
sono kokoro wo kuroku someta no wa  
oi dare nanda yo oi dare nanda yo

soroban de kono shiki ga tokemasu ka  
ano ko no kubi no wa mo tokemasu ka  
bokutachi kono manma de iindesu ka  
oi dou sunda yo oi dousunda yo

menseki hi no koushiki iemasu ka  
kodomo no toki no yume wa iemasu ka  
sono yume sura dobu ni suteta no wa  
oi dare nanda yo mou shittendaro

itsu ni narya otona ni naremasu ka  
somosomo otona to wa ittai zentai nan desu ka  
donata ni ukagaeba iindesu ka  
oi dou sunda yo mou dou datte ii ya'

"Well…it was…energetic…" Estelle said, her expression caught between confused and unsure; I couldn't tell if it was because it was the first time she'd ever heard an Electric Guitar, or if was due to the Japanese. "Yeah! It was totally awesome, even though I couldn't understand a word of it!" Karol excitedly shouted. "Well, it's certainly no language I've ever heard before," Rita threw in, looking a little more curious, "and you actually know what their saying?" I just blinked in response before answering, "Well not so much understanding the whole thing, I just tend to look up translations when I hear a Japanese song I like, so I know what it's saying and about."

'What's this one called?" Estelle asked curiously. "The Lost One's Weeping," I answered simply. "…Lost One's…Weeping?" Estelle repeated as if she didn't hear the first time. "Yep," I replied simply again. "And it's your favorite?" Estelle asked with a bit of a sad look on her face. "Yep, is that really so weird?" I once again responded simply with my open-eyed poker face. "Sure is," Rita said as the atmosphere seemed to change.

I sweat dropped and I could feel Kairi sweat dropping as well, "Uh, guys…I can do without the pitiable looks…seriously, what is it with people and giving me that look when I say it's my favorite…so I could relate to it and still relate to it, but…seriously, stop…" The awkward silence ensued as Kairi decided to break the ice, "Well, maybe you should've picked something more…cheerful?..." I visibly cringed a little, "Oh come on! I don't have many peppy, cheery songs…a few romance ones, but…too mushy…if I do, they're mainly gonna give you a headache in like 1 minute or less of hearing, like Super Neko World, or if the lyrics are too cute I'll never want to translate them due to having those words in my mouth!"

"Well, let's hear one of those happy songs, the mood sure could use it right about now," Yuri said with his awkward smile that made my cheeks puff up with withheld laughter. "Seriously…stop making that face, I'm going to seriously lose it one day," I barely managed to get out without laughing, "Besides….we got company…"

I turned off the phone and everyone turned to where I was looking at and saw a swarm of Bees heading our way along with 2 Rhinossus. "We gotta do something about this Period of yours," Yuri sweat dropped. "A shower would be nice, but that's asking a bit much now…" I said as I grabbed my sheeps and everyone got set to fight and continue to Nor Harbor.

* * *

Oh my god, I can't believe how long it took me to do this one!

Caryn: *pouting* I'll say, you didn't even get to me at all before the New Year…

I can always leave you on Earth if you'd like…

Caryn: Fine…take your time XP you evil, unfair lucky bitch

You're still mad you couldn't get your Christmas Flynn in Link, eh?

Caryn: STOP RUBBING IT IN! YOU AT LEAST GOT YURI'S LAST YEAR GALLORE IN BOTH LINK AND the NEW YEAR YURI IN ASTERIA!

Yup, and Kairi is satisfied, see *points to Kairi snuggling my phone to her chest, blushing*

Caryn:….I quit Link ;w; I haven't gotten a single Flynn and they rarely have him in gachas…I at least have him in Asteria…

Why not just reroll until you get him as your leader? I wanted a leader Yuri, but I started with Colette, so I wasn't so mad XD and I might have rerolled, but they just had to have an event with an obtainable 4 star Yuri…and I got him and I stayed. So if you're unhappy, just uninstall and reinstall and reroll for a Flynn.

Caryn: That's too much WORK DX !

What about if they have a Soul Arena with him though? IF you can do that, you'll have 3 Flynn's. 1 3 star, 1 4 star, and 1 5 star….

Caryn: Damn….I gotta wait for that then…

Justin: So…we gonna get to Nor Harbor next time?

Yeah…I mean Gattuso is a battle….but shouldn't take an ENTIRE chapter to describe his fight. Though, I got like 2-3 drabbles I'mma have to do after that chapter, plus the crack chapters to accompany these chapters XD

Justin: Well classes start up in 2 weeks. Get cracking.

Fine fine :P

Next Time: Hello Mr. Flynn ~


	14. 13: Annoying Derpy Gattuso

Huzzah for Flynn ...sorry Caryn, couldn't get to you yet. I need to do some drabbles and crack chapters still. For those who might be getting lost in the story, the drabbles do become important, so keep track of those as well to keep up with the story when they come out :)

Please remember, ( ) parenthesis are MY thoughts, _italics are telepathic talk between me and Kairi_

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Tales of Vesperia, Justin, or Caryn. I DO have permission to use Justin and Caryn though. I OWN myself, Kairi, and my work in this fic. That is all….

* * *

Once we happened upon a familiar scene, Rita broke the silence first, "So this is Ehmead Hill?" Karol was looking around in the sky, "Yeah…but…" he looked absolutely confused, "That's weird…The barrier's gone." That got me to thinking, just why did the Empire need a Hermes powered barrier blastia out HERE for? "You mean there was a barrier here?" Yuri asked Karol, surprised there would even be one in this empty place. Karol just turned stumped back to us, "There was when I came before."

"Sort of a waste to have a barrier in a place with no people, if you ask me," Yuri said. I was still in thought, "Well, maybe it was for like, caravans? I mean Nor is that way right, and Halure is the other way, do the both do trade with one another? Although, I'd imagine a port town would be more trading with boats than with caravans, but still they gotta get merch from somewhere, imports, exports…I'm starting to think too much into this, someone stop me ahead of time next time…" Yuri just gave me that goofy grin again, and I swear I will hit him if he does it again, my gut wants to burst in laughter.

"Are you sure you aren't mistaken? I'm pretty familiar with the barrier locations, but here?" Rita said in her usual, I'm a Genius way. "You just haven't heard about this one. Nan told me it was only put here recently," Karol stated his source. Boy did that make Estelle curious, "Who is Nan, Karol?"

"Huh…?" Karol looked stunned for a second before regaining composure, "Uh, she's um…You know, she's just a friend from my guild." I pretended to be winded and fell to my knees dramatically with fake sobs and sniffles, "Ah! A girlfriend already….My baby boy is growing too fast…" Estelle's eyes lit up at the word girlfriend, Rita just could care less, Yuri was just giving me that goofy grin still, and Kairi was smiling awkwardly at me. Karol however, was so flustered he quickly blurted out a few words before running off again, "I-I'm gonna go see if I can find anything out!"

"You don't spare anyone with teasing…do you?" Kairi said as we watched Karol in the distance. "Since when is he 'your baby boy' anyways?" Rita asked in her usual 'I'm a genius with some anger issues' tone. "Ever since I squeezed his face between mah boobs," I said picking my arms up beside my breasts and squeezing inwards to emphasize. "Wha-! Well, whatever, I think I'll have a look myself," Rita said with pink cheeks as she then took off.

"All right, never mind us, guys. I'm not gonna go look for them if they get lost," Yuri said jokingly. "Wow Yuri, you win best Father of the Year award for sure," I joked back, to which I then noticed Estelle's intense gaze on me, "Uh…Estelle can I help you?"

"They were…jiggling," Estelle managed to get out, her unblinking stare still aimed at my chest. Jiggling? Oh, right…she's got that thing with big boobs since she's tiny. Believe me the game did her no justice, she looked like a good C cup with her dress in the game, but really the white part of her dress makes her look bigger than what she actually is; her chest is actually in the pink area within the white, and she looks to be about a small B cup, maybe even a large A cup, in any case she's lacking and trying to make up for it with her white dress topper. Not gonna lie, it's genius to make up for it like that.

I pretended to be embarrassed and threw my arms around my breast to 'cover' them, but I was holding them up with 1 arm around where my nips should be, picking them up enough that if my dress had a V neck there'd be cleavage galore; the other arm covering them up top dramatically like how Judith sometimes poses with her hands on her breasts. "GYA! Estelle, where are you looking at me?! Is THAT how you've been seeing me?! I'm sorry, but I don't swing that way…" I shouted in an overly dramatic fashion. Estelle quickly snapped out of her trance and began panicking, "Oh! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to stare at them, I don't mean anything, honest!" Kairi just began laughing through her hands that she had covering her mouth to stifle her giggles, but alas, everyone falls charm to the boobs, errr I mean panic reactions!

"Come on, let's go make sure the kids aren't causing trouble," Yuri said smirking, he looked like he had been holding back some laughter too. I got up and nudged Yuri playfully, joking around with him, "Good idea, 'Daddy'. Let's go." Yuri smirked and played along, "Ladies first then, 'Mommy'." Kairi and Estelle gaped at the two of us with wide eyes and open mouths, and that got me to laugh big time; Yuri burst into chuckles at their reactions when he took notice also. After our laughing fit, we all headed up to where Rita and Karol were at.

It was something to behold, the large blastia smoking on the ground in pieces, made me wonder how recently Judith came to destroy this. "Hey, hey! No outsiders allowed!" a cloaked guy argued as Rita began walking towards the blastia. "Let me through! I'm Rita Mordio of the Imperial Blastia Research Laboratory," Rita said very demandingly. "Oh, you're a mage from Aspio? Excuse me!" The cloaked man said getting out of the way, until he realized what he was doing and began to panic a little, "Oh, but you can't just do as you please! Let me go and ask the-." With that, the cloaked man ran off to call the knights.

Yuri just chuckled a bit, "Huh, I could use some of her attitude." I raised my hand, "Amen to that. Me too!." Estelle just sweat dropped and responded, "I think you both have plenty already…"

Baby boy came running up to us, energy output to the MAX, "Hey! Listen to this! It was like bam! A spear went thunk! The blastia went bang! And he flew off into the sky like whoosh!" Yuri's brain just turned to mush at that moment, "Who did what how…huh?"

I grabbed Karol's face with both my hands and examined him, "Did anybody who was smoking breathe anything on you?" Kairi just sweat dropped, "I'm not so sure if anyone does-" I turned to her with a scowl, "Hey! I'm just concerned that he might've gotten stoned."

Karol brushed my hands off him before continuing, "Someone riding a flying dragon, threw a giant spear at the blastia! And then just flew off!" Yuri wasn't buying it, "A human riding a dragon? No way." Estelle looked surprised, but wasn't buying it either, "I've never heard of anything like that before." Karol was doing his best to try to get them to believe him, "That's what I thought too, but a bunch of people here saw it happen! They say it was a 'dragon rider.'" The two still didn't look convinced, so I figured it was my turn now.

"Sounds awesome, I'd like to fly a dragon. Wonder where you get a dragon to begin with," I said as I thought about How to Train Your Dragon, man I'd so want Toothless. "You're seriously buying the dragon story?" Yuri said completely surprised at my reaction. I stared at him poker face before giving my response, "This coming from the guy who's speaking to an alien." At that, everyone but me and Kairi seemed to jolt and take in the possibility.

"A dragon rider…Hmmm. Well, the world's just full of surprises," Yuri said, just as we began to hear Rita shouting, "Hey! What do you think you're doing?! Let me go!" That caught all our attention, Karol just looked tired, "There she goes again." I tilted my head, when did this happen before? I mean, yeah the three stooges were after us in Halure, but they didn't catch us.

"Something is definitely strange with this blastia formula!" Rita shouted at the cloaked man. "There's nothing strange at all. Perhaps you are…" The cloaked man got out, earning a sweat drop to me, nice come back there buddy…really…can you just feel my sarcasm…? "Just who do you think I am!?" Rita shouted angrily. "I think she's just a bratty teenager," I muttered for all to hear except for Rita and the knights. The gang just sweat dropped at me, and then returned focus back to Rita.

"I'm well aware of who you are. The famed genius mage, correct? But surely there are some formulas that even you aren't familiar with!" the cloaked man stated as a matter of factly. "You can't use a weird formula like this! Think of the poor blastia!" Rita shouted again. "H-Hey! Stop gawking and help us catch her!" another cloaked guy shouted towards some more knights, getting their attention.

Karol then ran out and tried to help Rita by distracting the knights, "Fire! Hey, fiiiiire!" The knights looked over at him as weirdly as someone with a helmet can, "What's with that kid?" (I honestly think he's stoned right now haha). "A fire? I don't hear anything or smell anything…" another knight said assessing the situation. "Hey! You little liar!" The first knight shouted angrily. "Crap…they caught on that fast?" Karol said pouty. "Karol, take a nap, you're drunk," I playfully joked. The knights charged at Karol and he ran like the wind.

One knight stopped in front of us, "Hey! You are with that kid…Wait a minute…You two - there's a warrant for your -." Yuri quickly ran to knock out the knight behind Rita before running past us, "It's now or never…" I grabbed Kairi's staff and slammed it down on the knight's head, he fell down for a tiny bit before getting back up, "Argh, you little - wait!" (Ah! Why can't I 1 hit you with a staff to the head?!) Repede tackled him into the ground, giving time for me, Kairi, and Estelle to run for it. "I'm sorry," Estelle stopped briefly to say before following us into the bushes.

"Hey! Stop goofing off and help catch that kid!" Another knight shouted to the knight who was now getting up off the ground. "Damn…!" He certainly wasn't happy that we ran off. Once we seemed far in enough in, Yuri stopped, "Phew, looks like we lost 'em." Repede came out from the bushes and joined Yuri as Estelle complained, "*Huff* *huff* Rita, you should really think more before you act!" I pouted and whined, *Huff* She *huff* doesn't have a *huff* fully developed, prefrontal cortex *huff* Estelle, so even if she tried *huff* she can't." Yuri patted my back, "Don't say everything in a mouthful, take it easy."

"*Huff*…That barrier blastia was just so strange, I couldn't help myself…" Rita argued back. "Strange? Something fishy about it?" Yuri asked curiously. Rita regained her breath before responding, "I have a feeling that may be an understatement." (Well duh, they're trying to make Hermes blastia using other formulas and blastia). Yuri didn't seem fazed, but Kairi and I were still out of breath, I hated being so damn chubby. "Well, our hands are already full as it is, so could you please keep us out of it?" Yuri directed to Rita, I blinked a bit, I know he says that in the game, but I couldn't help but feel it was more to me and Kairi's defense seeing us so out of breath, plus my period…yeah there was that.

Rita just turned away, "…It doesn't concern you, regardless." I pouted, "It is our concern when we're dragged into it, baka!" Estelle turned her head confused, "Baka?" Kairi looked about ready to intercept, but nope, "It means Stupid, Moron, Idiot, pick whichever sounds better to you!" Kairi face palmed as Rita turned red in frustration, "WHAT?!"

"Yuri Looowell! Where have you and those 2 wenches run off to now?" Leblanc's harsh voice rang out, making us all clamp our mouth shut and cover our ears. (Oh, so now we're wenches…I outta sock him one next time…). Through the bushes we could see Leblanc passing by, looking about. "Hey, Mr. Famous, sounds like you've got a fan out there," Rita whispered to Yuri. "Dangit! That was a good one! My sass needs to get faster," I whispered in a pouty tone at Rita's nickname for Yuri.

Yuri just sighed, and whispered, "Again? That guy gives a new meaning to the word 'workaholic'." I smirked and said in a low voice, "Well what do you expect? He doesn't get laid, he's gotta get drunk on something. I suppose work was his only option."

"Lady Estelliiiise! I say, do come out of hiding!," Gay Fish, I mean Adecor said as he passed by. Rita turned to us and muttered, "You guys have a lot of problems! Just who are you, anyway?" I wickedly smiled before whispering back, "Why we're aliens set to take over this world with Eurobeat music and our innovative fashion sense!" Rita turned to Estelle quickly after giving me that, I don't give a fuck about you look, to which Estelle looked away and tried to answer, "Umm, well, I'm…"

"Yuuuri, come out, come out, wherever you are!" Pervit, I mean Boccos shouted. "You can talk about that later!" Yuri told Rita, whose focus was still on Estelle. Repede ran forward and growled a bit at the rustling bushes, but soon settled as he recognized the scent. "Waaaah! Wait, wait! It's me!" Karol shouted rather loudly. Estelle stepped back a little, "…Ack, Karol…don't frighten us like that!"

I ran forward and squeezed Karol in between my breasts, "Baby boy, don't ever scare me by running away like that again~" He flailed to get away as Yuri butted in, "Anyway, let's get our butts to Nor Harbor before things get any more complicated."

"Which way were we supposed to go, again?" Estelle asked. "Let's see, as the crow flies…" Karol said as he began pointing our heading. "Isn't this a beast trail? Can we really go through here?" Kairi looked around, "I don't see a sign saying we can't, so long as we exercise caution, we should be fine." I whined, "But my blood isn't gonna help at all…" At that everyone looked at me, shocked, yeah they weren't liking my period right now, though with all the fighting, they should have levels on them.

"We'll just have to keep a look out as we go, and we'll go as far as we can go, at least. I don't want to get captured again," Yuri declared. "We'll need to surround Liana and be on the look out for monsters, then," Estelle said, getting a plan and idea in her head before we would head out. "Meh, what are one or two monsters to the brave Captain Karol?" Yuri said, I couldn't tell if he was trying to make Karol feel better or just teasing him. "Y-yeah, that's right! Though if the barrier were up, we wouldn't have to worry about monsters at all…" Karol said nervously.

"I can't stand it! Why does some idiot have to go around breaking blastia and making our lives difficult?!" Rita shouted mildly. I was happy Yuri was focused on Karol, my face felt conflicted in emotions, I felt like telling them so bad about Hermes blastia and aer, everything, I want to trust them with that knowledge, but…if I do…what could happen to them? …To us…? Kairi could sense my unease too and rubbed my back a little without anyone seeing to calm me down. Once everyone seemed set, we all headed forward, facing MANY monsters along the way.

* * *

-*- Who is Nan? -*-

Karol: …Hey, Estelle, Liana. I noticed you both keep looking in my direction - what's up?

Estelle: You don't mind if I ask? All right, well then…here goes. This 'Nan'… Are you in love with her?

Karol: Ack… *hack* *cough* *choke*

Estelle: Nan is a girl's name, right? Is she the girl you wanted to show Halure's flowers to…?

Karol: Waaaaaa! No, no, no! You got it all wrong!

Estelle: I do?

Karol: Man, she'd be so angry if she heard you say that…

Liana: …My baby boy is becoming a man *sniffle*…

Estelle: Karol, good luck with her! I'm rooting for you!

Karol: Uh yeah…Well, thanks. That's encouraging…

* * *

"I didn't know flowers like this grew in the mountains!" Rita said a bit interested in the giant flower, and she reached out to touch it. "Rita! Don't touch it!" Estelle shouted before going into her book recital mode, " Inhaling billybally leaf pollen can lead to vertigo and strong feelings of exhaustion." Rita backed off for a second, "Hmph…" before she walked behind Karol, and I knew what she was about to do. Before I could stop her, she shoved Karol into the plant. "Hey, what're you -" was all Karol got out before he became Paralyzed. "Whoops, sorry!" Rita said with a wicked grin. I gave her a side glare, I was gonna give her a few minutes, then she'd get a taste of motherly anger. "Karol, are you okay?!" Estelle panicked and tried curing him, though to no avail.

Yuri figured her game though, "You're interested in healing artes?" Rita just turned away, "Nah…" but before she could walk away, I was in front of her, "Good, cause you might need some," I smirked deviously and shoved her into the billybally plant. "Hey! What's your -" was all Rita could get out before she too became paralyzed. "L-Liana! What did you do that for?!" Estelle shouted a tad angrily, "I can't use healing artes on this, it's no use! We'll have to wait until they recover naturally!"

"Not my problem, I warned her in Halure, hit Karol, I'll hit her back. I keep my words, she paralyzed him, well she'll get a taste of that medicine," I smirked deviously with the peace sign up. "You really are protective of him," Kairi said with a tiny chuckle. "Yup, mess with my baby boy, you'll get a taste of motherly vengeance," I chuckled. "That's all well and good, but just how long will it take for them to recover naturally," Yuri said now stating the issue. Estelle looked unsure, "Karol, Rita, be strong!"

After about 15 minutes, they both came too, "Ugh, Rita, you're terrible…" Karol pouted to Rita. "I said I was sorry," Rita responded to Karol so uncaringly before turning to glare at me, "And you! Why'd you shove me into it?!" I glared darker in return, my patience was running thin with Rita, I'd had enough of her today to last a while, "Do I really have to repeat myself? Mess with Karol, you're going to get it. You heard the effects of the plant from Estelle, yet you shoved him into it, and not on accident either. What did you want me to do, tie you upside down in a tree and pull out my giant paper fan and smack you about 50 times? Ask Kairi to hit you with a Meteor Strike? Tie you up and make you listen to the Schnuffel Bunny Snuggle Song on repeat for hours on end?"

Kairi paled at the Schnuffel punishment, though everyone except Rita looked at me with wide eyes, they could tell my hormones were going ballistic, and to try to cool things down before it can escalate. Rita stayed quiet, I couldn't tell if she just decided to drop it or if she got my message. "Karol, if you're all right, then let's go," Yuri said, trying to change things to getting back out of this trail and to Nor Harbor. "Let's be careful to stay away from the billybally leaf from now on, okay?" Estelle said, and we all silently agreed and pressed onwards.

* * *

-*- Meteor Strike? -*-

Karol: Say, Liana, what was that about a meteor?

Liana: Huh? Meteor Strike? It's Kairi's second most powerful magic to date so far as I know.

Karol: Whoa! Really?! What does it do?

Liana: She basically summons a meteor to land wherever she aims it at, the area will be engulfed in flames for a good while, though I haven't seen it for a while, so I forget how big that meteor is, it's not planet catastrophic size, so there's no worries to that. Though it is bigger than a small house, I know that much.

Yuri, Karol, & Rita: !

Estelle: ! That sounds scary.

Liana: Yeah, so unless I give you an okay, don't ever fire that one off. Or Lightning Rod…or any advanced magic, please.

Kairi: Right.

* * *

-*- The Dragon Rider -*-

Yuri: Man, some people have some weird hobbies. I mean, who goes around destroying blastia?

Estelle: I wouldn't really call that a hobby.

Rita: If we ever come across whoever's doing this, I'll destroy him!

Karol: But what if he has some reason for what he's doing?

Liana: Good thinking there, buddy. *mutters to self* Though…I can't tell you what that reason is…

Rita: They can have any reason they want, destroying blastia is unforgiveable! Period! *strangling Karol*

Estelle: !

Karol: Ack, my, my neck! My neck! Waaaaaghh! Ack, heeeelp me, Yuri!

Yuri: Meh, that'd take effort. *backs up* Just play nice with each other , kids.

Karol: Estelle…

Estelle: *backing up* Umm… do your best, Karol!

Liana: *puts plastic bag over Rita's head and closes it**smiling devilishly* Ah, seems like my hands slipped~. Should I tie it nice and tight? Very tight~?

Rita: *drops Karol* Can't…breathe…I give…take it….off….

Liana: *takes off bag* Good to see you're learning *evil smirk*

* * *

-*- Snuggle Song -*-

Estelle: Umm…Liana…

Liana: Hm?

Estelle: I was wondering…Can I hear that Snuggle Song?

Liana: Huh? Seriously?

Estelle: Yes! It sounds so cute~

Liana: Alright, but I'll warn you, it can qualify as torture to listen to for long periods. *Puts song on phone and puts headphones on Estelle's head*

Estelle: *30 second in song* … *takes off headphones* It's…umm…

Liana: Annoying and corny, huh?

Estelle: Umm well, …. Yes.

Liana: Told you…

* * *

-*- A Nice, Fun, Relaxing Trip -*-

Yuri: Red-eyes, knights …Why can't we just have a nice, fun, relaxing trip?

Karol: You're one to complain, Yuri.

Rita: Yeah, weren't those knights calling YOUR name?

Karol: But you're the one who was fighting with the mages, Rita.

Estelle: Please, everyone! We're okay, aren't we? I actually think it's kind of fun.

Kairi: Well, I'll admit, it is kind of exhilarating to actually be doing things rather than just walk and get there.

Yuri: If you two think being chased is fun, you're going to love the rest of this trip.

Karol: Yeah, you may have written off what just happened, but we're still fugitives!

Liana: *devilish smirk* And loving every minute of it.

* * *

It took us a while to get up the hill as I ran to get the chests in the area. As we entered into the all too familiar clearing, I felt myself getting the chills. I had no trouble beating this boss and getting the secret mission in one go in the game, but this time I'm 'in' it, and these guys aren't under my command and control, the odds of us getting through this was so low, I began to worry. If push comes to shove, I may have to ask Kairi to use Meteor Strike…regardless, that would leave us pretty darn hurt if she had to, but, it's either being burnt or dying, and being burnt is better than dying right now.

The loud roar stopped us in our tracks, and Karol shivered a bit and frantically looked around, "Wh…what's that?" Yuri's eyes immediately darted up to the cliff and our gazes followed. There he was, Gattuso, the game did nothing for him, this guy was MASSIVE! "Gyaaaah!" Karol shouted in panic and fear before running to hide behind me, "Th-that's one of the monsters that attacked Halure village!" Yuri looked amused, "A survivor, huh?" (Ah, he's such a battle maniac, this time he's gonna bite more than he can chew…I never did much fiddling with the game when we started, everything has been in normal mode….this guy has like close to 27k hp if I remember…oh boy…).

"If we leave it here it'll surely go back and try to attack Halure again…" Rita said seriously. "But Halure has the barrier protecting it now," Estelle said a bit worried about facing Gattuso. 'Even so, how are the people of Halure supposed to sleep at night with beasts like this crawling around just outside the barrier?" Yuri argued his point. "Good point, Kairi, this might actually be a fight where you might have to use advanced magic, wait on my words though please, I'm thinking of a plan here," I said seriously as I began thinking of a strategy.

Gattuso let out a large roar and 2 cubs came out from the bushes as he hopped down from the cliff at us. Immediately he went into Overlimit making Karol shout, "They can use that?!" I pouted, "That's so not fair, but at the same time so cool…" The cubs were a lot less troublesome, it was Gattuso that was my main concern, " _Kairi. Can you just quickly kill the cubs with firebolt? They only have like 3k hp, won't be much, a fully charged firebolt each will do it, I gotta get these guys to use the billybally plant to stun Gattuso so we can do damage to him!_ " Kairi just nodded and obeyed, while Estelle was rushing at Gattuso, everyone was basically charging him…god these people. "HEY! ESTELLE! STAY BACK NEAR A BILLYBALLY PLANT AND ONLY USE HEALING ARTES! WE MAY NEED THEM REALLY BAD! AND IF HE GOES NEAR YOU, HIT THE PLANT AND RUN! HOPEFULLY IT'LL STUN HIM!" I shouted at Estelle, furious that she hasn't figured out YET that a healer needs to stay back!

Estelle looks surprised, but obeyed just as Karol got hit by it's claws and was poisoned. Repede threw him a gel as I rushed Gattuso and got his attention pretty fast, being on a period had its pros and cons, pro was his attention was on me, con was…his attention was on me.

"Oh shit," I ran near a billybally plant and hit it before backing up and waiting to see if he'd run into the pollen, no such luck, the plant closed up just as he reached it. Yuri, Karol, and Repede charged him to try to regain his attention, and while they couldn't shake him off me, he put the hurt on us with his roaring attack. "A little test," I heard Rita say as she cast Splash on him, it did hardly anything, I just recalled he was weak to FIRE…though it'll be weird to shout at Rita to throw Fireballs this way when we're in the way….yeah I won't do that…

"Ow!" Karol shouted as Gattuso hit him with his tail attack. "Watch out, this one's tough," Yuri said seriously and a bit out of breath. After dealing a sufficient amount of damage to Yuri, Karol, and Repede, to the point where they began staggering, his focus was back on me. I barely could dodge his barrage of attacks, this boss was merciless. "GYA!" I yelped in pain, just as a claw sliced into my thigh from his poison claw. He took that time to roar and hit me with his tail, sending me back quite a bit. "Gggghhh," I slowly got up to realize he was fixing to charge me again, yeah, I hate being a girl big time now...damnit, I can't go down yet, not here.

Rita was casting spells to try to stop him, Estelle also casting Photon, but nothing was taking him off me, nothing but a fully charged firebolt from Kairi. He turned to Kairi, now eager to get rid of the one who was dealing a good chunk of damage…but that power comes with a tradeoff, her defense…she's so weak, one hit and she might go down. She was standing by a billybally plant…."KAIRI! HIT THE PLANT NOW AND RUN!" I shouted as Gattuso charged her.

She whacked the plant and quickly ran away as Gattuso slid into the pollen. He got stunned…but Kairi got stunned also, she wasn't fast enough. Everyone took that small amount of stun time to try to hurt him, I bet we weren't doing much. Once he snapped out of it along with Kairi, Kairi ran from him as he began chasing her around. "GUYS! WE NEED TO USE THE PLANTS TO STUN HIM! THAT'S THE ONLY WAY WE'RE GONNA TAKE HIM DOWN!" I shouted to the others, not caring if we got that secret mission anymore, I just want us to live! Everyone understood and we tried luring him around and hitting the plants, it wasn't going so good until, one of Rita's fireballs hit the plant as he was by a plant chasing Repede. Repede was fast enough to get out the way, and Yuri quickly downed him, secret mission, success.

A slash on my back launching me forward from an attack with his tail told me I was running out of stamina, curse being overweight. Everyone was doing what they could, but it was obvious, everyone was wearing down BIG TIME, while he seemed on fire. "I can't take this thing anymore! I GOT AN IDEA! EVERYONE GET AWAY FROM HIM! KAIRI! ...LIGHTNING ROD!" I shouted as loudly as I can as I got up from the floor. Everyone looked surprised, and began immediately running off as far from him as they could even if he was chasing them. Rita stopped casting, though Estelle kept up her first aid. Kairi looked dumbfounded but nodded and began charging up the Lightning Rod. A large blue circle appeared under her as her staff began to zap electricity at the tip, with the light becoming more intense as she kept charging it to the Max.

Didn't that get Gattuso's attention, he began to charge at her, big mistake. It doesn't take long to fully charge Lightning Rod, and with a point of her staff, as quick as Lightning…pun intended, a large streak of lightning rushed through Gattuso's head and body leaving a gaping hole as he tumbled over obviously dead.

"…Whoa," Karol said in awe of Kairi's sheer power before realizing the situation, "We, we, w-we won!" Estelle looked a tired, but relieved, "Now Halure is safe as well." Yuri looked a bit unconvinced though, "I don't know…" Though Karol put on a tiny braggard face, "Wh-what the heck! It hardly put up a fight!" (Haha, he's trying to be a big boy…but really, that almost killed me, would've killed us if I hadn't told Estelle to just prioritize healing and avoiding conflict with him…and had Kairi Lightning Rod it…). "But there could be a dozen more just around the corner…" Estelle said a bit worried. "True, that one brought cubs with it…if it has cubs that means there has gotta be another one somewhere, or the possibility of more cubs elsewhere," I stated an obvious fact. "N-no worries, seriously!" Karol said still braggingly, "Kairi, can get rid of them easy with that move."

"I wouldn't be to sure buddy, Lightning Rod needs some cool down time between uses, and while that cool down time and charging time may not be much…1 second can be the difference between defeat and victory with Kairi. She's powerful, but at a price…" I tried explaining to Karol strictly. "Huh? And what might this price be?" Rita asked curiously, seems Kairi was now her favorite research material. "Let's see," I thought for a second how to phrase this, until a smirk formed on my face, "It'd be easier to demonstrate. Yuri, be a dear and pick Kairi up and squeeze her a bit, you'll figure out what the tradeoff is."

"Huh?!" Kairi said, her face getting pink as she backed up, "N-N-No! We d-don't need a demonstration! Honest!" Yuri began to pick up on that I was teasing and decided to go with the flow, he smirked and began walking towards her, "Give up. It'll be easier for us if we know your weaknesses to better cover you." Rita looked like she was on fire, "He's right! So just stay put and let him pick you up, it's not a HUGE DEAL!"

Kairi's pink cheeks were getting redder with each step Yuri took, but she obeyed and stayed put, her eyes looked like they were about to turn to swirls with how flustered she was getting, "B-B-B-But! I-I-I, I ca…I can't…I…" With one swoop, Yuri had her in his arms, "Hmm?" he immediately seemed to notice the issues and began bouncing her in her arms. "Hiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" Kairi shrieked as he bounced her. She gripped his shirt tight, putting her body closer to him to try to avoid being thrown any higher. "Ah, so that's the issue," Yuri said as a matter of factly. "What is it? Give us some details," Rita said eagerly. "She's incredibly light," Yuri said as he stopped bouncing her, and gave her a tiny squeeze, "despite her figure she's feels pretty tiny too, and it seems like her bones might snap if I squeeze too hard…so in other words, she can't take hits. Do I got that right?"

"Yep! Yuri wins the prize!" I said smirking devilishly at Kairi's expense. Kairi on the other hand looked like she could faint any second though, "Y-Y-Y-Yu-Yu-Yuri…C-C-can-can I…get d-do-down n-now?..." Yuri just ignored her for a second, "Well, now that we know, let's just hope there aren't too many more monsters where it came from." Kairi was shivering already badly, she whined softly looking like she could cry any second, "Y-Yuri….p-p-please put m-me down…." After hearing the 'magic word', he put her down and had to quickly extend his arm to hold her upright as she as she trembled, swayed, and wobbled, trying to get out of her dizzy stupor. Repede stuck to her side to give her some support while Rita seemed to take notes, while I had to fight back my giggles as Kairi complained to me, " _Liana…You're too cruel…_ "

After fighting one basilisk that was in our way, we made our way through the valley of cliffs to reach the all too familiar cliff edge. Everyone stopped, Estelle looked mesmerized, "It's beautiful…" I wasn't going to lie, this scenery was gorgeous, I pulled out my phone and began getting the camera set to take some pictures, videos, and panoramas. As Estelle ran out of the way, Rita walked forward to observe what I was doing, until she caught a glimpse of the scenery and walked ahead, "This is…"

I took so many pictures, it was unreal. "Look, Yuri. It's the ocean," Estelle told Yuri still in awe. "I can see that. …The wind feels great," Yuri said almost breathlessly as he walked up beside her. Kairi smiled at Yuri's reaction, but turned her gaze to focus elsewhere from the pair on the cliff. I smirked as everyone was now in sight, I pulled up the Panorama feature on my phone and began to get a picture of the scenery with everyone in it.

"I've seen pictures in books before, but I've never seen it up close like this," Estelle said happily. "Well. People don't usually travel outside the barriers," Karol stated the obvious reason why people don't see these things, same can be said about Earth, "If we keep going, we can see all sorts of things, like the jungle or the City of Waterfalls…"

"There are so many more things we could learn…if only our journey would continue…" Estelle said wishfully. "I guess it's true… I really was living in a small world," Yuri said, basically bringing up what Hanks said back in the lower quarter.

"That's a rare moment of sincerity, coming from you," Rita said in a slight mocking tone. "It's your first time seeing it too, right?" Karol said in a soft curious tone walking up to her. "Well, yes, but…" Rita said awkwardly. "Aww…You must've had such a lonely life, tied to your research like that," Karol said with a genuinely sad and pitiable tone. (Aww baby boy is as sweet as sugar, too bad he likes Nan, he could do SO MUCH BETTER). "Having you pity me makes me want to jump off this cliff," Rita said a tad irritably.

"This water has traversed the world's oceans, and has seen all there is to see. The ocean binds the lands of our world together…" Estelle said dreamily. I sweat dropped since she was being so corny, even Rita agreed, "Here she goes again. It's really just one big puddle, you know." Karol was a bit fussy that Rita wasn't liking Estelle's speech, "Whatever. You were pretty moved back there, too." Rita raised her hand back to chop him and he covered his head, one look in my direction and she dropped her hand, a tiny pout on her face. "H-huh?" Karol said a bit confused as to why he wasn't getting chopped. (Don't worry, I got you covered…).

"So this is the world as he sees it," Yuri spoke to himself. "Yuri?" Estelle said confused on who he was talking about. "Flynn must have stood on this spot earlier, and looked out at this same scene," Yuri said taking in the scene while thinking. "That's true. His duties do take him to many different places," was Estelle's response. "Always telling me to catch up with him. Easy for him to say," Yuri said smiling a bit.

"Nor Harbor is just around the corner from Ehmead Hill. We'll catch up to him in no time," Karol confidently stated. Yuri just chuckled a second before replying, "That's not what I was talking about." Poor Karol looked stumped, "Huh? What do you mean?" I giggled a bit, "Wait till you get older, you'll get it then." Yuri turned to us, "All right, let's get moving before Leblanc and friends show up again." Karol was about to say where Nor Harbor was, but Yuri began looking around and asked, "Where's Kairi?"

I turned my head where she was earlier, and she wasn't there, in fact, I couldn't see her anywhere, "Uhhh…" Estelle looked about to panic, "Oh no, what if she got into trouble? What if-" I cut off Estelle really fast to keep her from having a heart attack, "Hold on, shut up and give me a second! I'll call her! _Kairi! Where are you?! Estelle's going into MOTHER MODE!_ " A few seconds of silence, and no response, "…. _KAIRI_?!"

" _AH! Oh, sorry, I was talking with someone, I didn't hear you. What is it?_ " I heard Kairi say.

" _Talking with someone? Huh? Ugh, whatever, where are you?_ "

" _Elucifer's grave, where else?_ "

"Well," Rita asked a tad worried that her research subject was missing. "She's up ahead, she found something and got distracted," I replied. At that Repede ran ahead, I had to wonder if he could understand human speech.

Yuri turned to Estelle whose gaze returned to the ocean for a bit, "We'll have plenty more chances to see the ocean. Your journey will continue for as long as you want." Estelle just sighed and turned slightly to Yuri, "…" I really just wanted to slap her right now, no, slug her was more like it (Seriously, it's like she's saying "I can never return here again", bitch you're the mother fucking princess, you got the authority to return here whenever the fuck you want…you just gotta stop being such a fucking pussy and speak up about what you want even if the knights say NO!). "It's all up to you. You've made it this far, haven't you?" Yuri said. "…That's true," Estelle said smiling.

"Last one to Kairi is a rotten egg!" Karol shouted as he began running off towards the cliff edge with me chasing after him. "You're gonna fall if you don't watch out," Yuri called out. Karol stopped at the edge of the cliff and almost slipped, "Gyaaaah!" I quickly grabbed the back of his clothes and pulled him backwards onto the cliff. "Idiot…" I heard Rita say. "What did Yuri say?" I lectured Karol who just chuckled helplessly at me.

* * *

-*- Oceans of Earth -*-

Karol: Hey, I didn't get to ask you both. Is it your first time seeing the ocean too Liana?

Liana: Huh? No, I lived in a town that was an hour drive away from South Padre Island, I practically went everyday. And if we visited my aunt in Houston, we'd always go to Galveston, so the ocean was always there.

Estelle: Wow, that must be so nice.

Liana: Well, we moved more north in Texas after I turned 10, and we keep going more north, so the beach and the ocean is too far to go to now a days.

Yuri: …We, huh?

* * *

-*- Who is Kairi? 1-*-

Yuri: Hey, Liana.

Liana: Huh?

Yuri: I'd been meaning to ask, just who is Kairi?

Liana: Huh? Kairi is Kairi, what else?

Yuri: No, I mean if she's a friend or related to you. I found it odd that you two could telepathically speak for just being childhood friends. Also, back in Deidon Hold you and Justin had to move away to speak in private not telepathically despite being friends. So it can't be an Earth thing. You also mentioned she'd been with you since you were young, and I find it hard to believe that a friend's parents would just up and move from their home to follow a friend without good reasons, and coincidentally to the same place.

Liana: Hmm…how to phrase this…she lives with me due to family issues…but she's like my second cousin twice removed…

Yuri: …What?

Liana: I don't get family trees, but that's what she is they told me…if she was adopted, they haven't told her or me…

Yuri: …Really?

Liana: …Really...

* * *

"Kairi!" Estelle shouted as the brunette came into view sitting on the ground in front of Elucifer's grave with Repede beside her yawning. Kairi turned to us a bit confused, "Huh?" Estelle ran over and kneeled beside her, checking her over, "Did you get hurt? What happened? Why'd you go off without us? You could have been hurt!" Kairi squirmed in Estelle's patting, "I'm fine. I just…got lost in thoughts and…I found myself here talking to this…," she explained as she gazed upon the grave marker softly.

"What's this supposed to be?" Karol asked looking at the rock. "Is it a…grave, perhaps?" Estelle asked a bit wary. "A grave? In a place like this?" Yuri skeptically remarked. "Actually, this is just the type of place I'd expect to see one," Rita said knowingly. "What do you mean?" Karol asked curiously. "You know, like the grave of someone who plotted against the empire…and failed. If you wanted to bury somebody and keep it quiet, you'd want a place like this with no one around," Rita said nodding.

"Though…if that were the case, why bother making a grave at all? Wouldn't it be easier for them to slice that person up and dump them in the ocean or something? Burning them to ashes to leave no evidence and toss 'em away? Bury them in the thick of the woods with no marker what so ever?" I stated my opinion, which earned me lots of uncomfortable looks, "Well sorry, for picking the dark, obvious choices that most evil people would pick! I think logically and madly to figure something, even if it's too dark for people to handle…"

Yuri turned his gaze to the grave, "Huh, wonder if that's what I've got in store for me." Estelle fussed and angrily shouted at Yuri, "Don't say such things…! That isn't funny!" Yuri looked serious a bit, "I wasn't exactly kidding. It's just a fact of life that some folks from the lower quarter never get a funeral or a proper burial." Karol looked confused, "What happens to them, then?" Yuri was pretty straight faced as he explained to the young boy, "They get cremated and have their ashes scattered over a river or a field, usually." (Haha, doesn't sugar coat things at all~) Estelle looked surprised, "Are you telling the truth…?"

Rita looked awkward, uncomfortable, and confused, "How did we get started talking about this, anyway?" Karol turned to the grave, "Cause we're trying to figure what a lone grave is doing in a place like this." Yuri looked confused, "Yeah. So, just who does it belong to…?"

Kairi tenderly put her hand on the grave, "Well, it's no one of bad intentions, I can feel that much…" I jumped back a bit and teased, "Let me guess, you've been possessed by the spirit and brought us all here to deal to us the same fate!" Rita, Karol, and Estelle stiffened up and looked shocked, and the fact that Kairi began giggling uncontrollably loud wasn't helping their reactions or mine.

I looked shocked, "Uh…you are in your right mind, right Kairi?" She waved her hand at me, "I'm good, I just felt a tickle when you said that." I looked blankly at her, "Felt…a tickle?...Can you…talk to ghosts? I know you can talk to Repede, there no hiding that…" (If she can talk to ghosts…I never gave her that ability…her domain over reality must've given it to her…). She looked at me a bit oddly, "Well, no, I can't hear them, or see them, but I just feel something, that's all."

The three were freaking out while Yuri looked a bit startled, "So, you 'feel' dead people?" I turned to Yuri, "Yuri, that sounds wrong, rephrase it…" He waved it off and looked to Kairi, expecting an answer. She looked at him and tried her best to answer, "I don't know…it's like, they try to talk in another way, like…I felt dazed and came here…kind of like they were saying, 'I want to talk'…" Yuri looked at her for a minute before smirking and shrugging, "Well, so long as it doesn't happen all the time. You're pretty vulnerable against attacks, so getting put in a 'daze' and wandering off wouldn't be good at all."

Yuri turned to the others who were backed up pretty far, "Alright, let's keep going, we can leave this mystery behind for now." The others slowly nodded as we all got back into formation, with me and now Kairi, in the center surrounded by the others. The others didn't like it when I peeled off track to get the chests as well as enter into the Gattuso cub area, "I said there had to be more pups somewhere," I declared triumphantly as I raided the chests. The others just wanted to get to Nor Harbor already, but there was gonna be a few more detours I knew.

* * *

"What's this…?" Rita said as we entered the end of the trail into the other side of the road. She was staring at a medium sized bag in the middle of the road and Karol recognized it immediately, "Oh, that's a camping set! With this, you can set up camp and sleep without having to go to an inn easy!" Rita looked pleased and turned to Karol, "Oh, that's nice! Now you can go off and play nature boy whenever we sleep at an inn, and we'll save money, too!" Karol looked a bit hurt and shocked, "Wh-what are you talking about? Camping sets are single-use only!"

"Rita, don't be so mean!" Estelle fussed as I nodded, "Yeah, for once leave baby boy alone, seriously!" Karol just sweat dropped and gave up trying to argue about me calling him baby boy, while Rita turned away crossing her arms, "Hmph!"

"That sounds really useful, Karol," Yuri said slightly praising Karol to lift his spirits. "Yeah, they're essential when you're on the road," Karol said happily, and began letting his knowledge on the item flow, "In addition to camping sets, you could also sleep on mats. But camping sets are really the best thing to use. You can't get a better night's sleep with anything else!"

Estelle looked absolutely relieved, "What wonderful timing! All of you look so exhausted from climbing…" Rita seemed to sweat drop, "…You look pretty pooped, yourself." Yuri looked around, "Yeah, we've got a ways to go before we get to town, too. Maybe we should set up camp here?" Karol looked like he'd second that vote, "Alright, I'll get everything set up! Oh, once you've camped somewhere, you won't be able to camp around there for a while afterwards," he suddenly explained his forgotten fact.

"Why's that?" Yuri asked curiously. "After camping at a certain site, the basic barrier that's included in the camping set will stop being effective for a while, so long as you're near the site," Karol explained.

"Basic barrier? What's that? There's no blastia like that," Rita said grumpily and interested in one. Karol turned to her and answered, "It's not a blastia, actually. It's just something that gives off a smell that monsters find unpleasant. That's why they call it a 'barrier'. It can keep the monsters at bay for a night, but after enough time passes, the monsters get used to the smell, and it won't keep you safe anymore."

"Hmmm…That makes sense…," Rita said in thought. "Well then, we'll leave the setup to you, Karol," Yuri told the boy. Karol looked happy to be relied on, but seemed to realize something, "All right. Let's set up camp a little bit further." Yuri looked confused, "Why further?" I tilted my head and gave him a dumb stare, "You seriously want to set up camp in the middle of the road, with knights and Leblanc around who may find us…monsters it can keep at bay, but them?" Everyone seemed to realize what Karol and I were getting at. "Good idea, let's set it up further ahead," Yuri replied. I rubbed Karol's hair affectionately, "Very smart, Karol. You actually thought that through rather than going with the flow." He chuckled a bit at the flattery, but seemed to stare a bit surprised as I had called him by his name and not 'baby boy' that time.

We all agreed and headed on further until Rita just seemed to dash back to check on the blastia. Estelle and Karol followed after her, while Yuri just sighed, "Where is she going?" I shrugged, "To check on the blastia I guess, you should go make sure she's ok, Kairi and I can stay here with Repede." He turned to me with his 'are you kidding me' poker face, "And you're just as much a trouble maker as she is, yet you want me to leave you to yourself." I pouted, "Which is why we're with Repede, we'll be fine waiting here, besides, I need to change...and I don't think you'd want to see that…" Yuri looked awkwardly at me as I grabbed stuff out of my bag, but he still stood there…until he saw me reach my hands behind and under the dress of my skirt and he turned around, "Okay, okay, I'll go check on them, but you two better stay put with Repede, and Repede, keep them in place." I saluted, "Aye aye, Capitan!" Repede just woofed as if to say 'Roger!'

After a nice change of pampers, and burying my dirty pamper in the woods, I saw the other's heading back, and once together, we all headed towards Nor Harbor.

* * *

We were close to getting there, but everyone wanted to set up camp. (We're so close, why can't we just go a bit more in!). As if hearing my complaint, the sky darkened, and it began to pour heavily. "Ugh, I'm getting soaked, if we sleep like this we're definitely gonna catch a cold!" I pouted as I held out my wet sagging sleeves. Everyone looked in thought and as if we were all telepathically linked, we all made a dash towards the harbor.

Once we reached the entrance Yuri looked up at the sky, "Man, the weather sure changed in a hurry." Karol looked over at Yuri, "Let's find an inn so we can all shower up before we catch cold." We all began walking in, except for Estelle who was just staring around. "Estelle, what is it?" Yuri asked. Estelle turned to us with a bit of shock from being in thought, but spoke disappointedly, "Oh, I-I just thought a harbor town would be more…lively than this."

"Yeah, this isn't exactly how I imagined it either…" Yuri agreed. "But it feels like the kind of place that core thief you're looking for would hang out," Rita said obviously. "Yeah, it's all dark, creepy, and scummy looking," I said a bit wary, grabbing onto Yuri's sleeve due to the thunder, though he probably thinks it's due to how dark it's getting. "Dedecchi was headed for Torim Harbor," Yuri corrected us. "I'm sure the two are pretty similar," Rita said unconvinced.

"No way. It's only Nor Harbor that's scummy like this," Karol said a tiny bit upset. "What do you mean?" Estelle asked curiously. "Nor Harbor is… It's all because of the empire," Karol pouted. "Why am I not surprised? The government fucks up anything where they go, empires are even worse…" I stated as I began to shiver with how cold I was, and in anger at the scene happening in front of us.

"I told you what would happen to that little brat if you didn't have our money!"

We all looked to see Teagle and his wife on the ground, Teagle pressed his head into the concrete and began to beg, "Please, sir! Not that! Please give me back my son! With this awful weather the last few months, we haven't been able to launch the boats. Surely you realize sir, we can't hope to pay our taxes like this."

"You'd better hurry up and capture that Rhybgaro beast then, shouldn't you?" The guildsman said mockingly. "That's right. If you sell his horn, you'll never have to worry about taxes again. How many times do we have to tell you?" The cheeky looking government guy said mockingly also. They both turned to walk away and I began walking at them until Yuri grabbed my hair, "Ow! Hey C'mon, let me at them! I'll make them regret living this very instant! I'll make sure they see stars, no, I'll make sure they only see red for the rest of their lives!" I pouted and fussed, struggling to get out of Yuri's grip. "Down, firecracker, down," Yuri chuckled as he continued to yank me back until they were no longer in sight and let me go.

"Savages…" Rita said angrily, kinda glaring at Yuri for holding me back. "Is that the sort of scum you were talking about, Karol?" Yuri said angrily too. Karol turned over, "Yeah. The empire's influence is really strong here. I heard things got even worse with the new magistrate. He's some imperial big shot who does whatever he wants." Rita crossed her arms and looked frustrated, "Which means there's no one to complain to if his henchmen act like that."

Yuri just turned away and groaned in frustration, as Estelle looked bewildered, "But how can that be…?" (Well…let's see….you all have some stupid rule that only one who holds the imperial treasure can be the ruler….why the hell is your succession depending on that?! I would've abolished the hell out of the system and started from scratch using some of the existing laws, while rewriting new ones!). I noticed Yuri going over to the wall as Teagle got up, his wife shouting at him, "That's enough! You're hurt…You might even get yourself killed this time!"

"But it's out son! If I don't go…" at that Teagle took on a grim look and began dashing, not noticing Yuri's outstretched foot. He tripped on it and landed splendidly on the ground, no seriously, I'll give that a 8 out of 10 for actually falling face first and somehow twisting in midair to land on his butt, "Oow…What are you trying to do?!" Yuri looked away, "Oh, sorry about that. Didn't see you there."

Teagle's wife ran to his side and Estelle ran over and knelt beside him, pouting at Yuri, "Yuri! …My apologies, sir. Let me take care of that." A bright light and ring, and Teagle was healed, his wife looked baffled, but worried, "B-but I… I can't afford this treatment…" Yuri looked a bit curiously at them, "Don't you have something else to say?" Teagle's wife and Estelle looked up at Yuri in shock, "Huh…?" Yuri looked in shock back at them before resuming his poker face, "Jeez…you guys been robbed of your manners along with your money?" Teagle's wife got up and bowed to Estelle, "…I-I'm sorry. Thank you most kindly." I smirked happily, "No worries, Estelle and Kairi's healings are guaranteed 100% free."

I noticed movement out of the corner of my eyes and so did Kairi. "…" Yuri saw that we had seen and gave us a strict look that said, 'oh no, you stay here'. I looked pouty, but nodded as did Kairi, and he wandered off to the alleyway where the assassins were waiting. Teagle managed to stand up and Karol quickly noticed Yuri was missing, "Huh…? Yuri?" Everyone looked around and I decided to break things before we split up on a search, "He's a big boy, Repede's not worried, he probably just went on a walk. Let's get to the inn and get set to shower and change, before we ca-" As if on cue, Kairi sneezed loudly, I finished my sentence, "catch a cold… see, now let's get going."

Teagle's wife and Teagle began to lead us to the inn, but Kairi was walking towards the alleyway, " _Kairi!_ " She turned to me with a worried sick look, " _But what if something happens to him, I have to make sure he's okay! I'll never forgive myself if anything happens to him because we changed the story!_ " I kinda agreed with her and we were about to get to the alley until a blur of blue/ yellow ran past us. Flynn was rushing to save the day!

Clang of metal on metal was ringing throughout the alley, and once it stopped with a loud crash and another clang, we peeped in from the corner to see Flynn attacking Yuri. "So, be a little more happy then. And stop pointing that thing at me," Yuri said complaining to Flynn. Flynn drove his sword into a paper on the wall, "Well I got a little less happy when I saw this!" Yuri looked proud, and even sounded proud, "Hey, it's up to 10,000 Gald. Nice," until his eyes went wide, "Whoa…How'd Liana get to 45,000 gald?"

I sweat dropped and fell over against the wall, just how many lies were those damn Knights telling about me to make it go up THAT much?! "I didn't think when you quit the knights that you'd take up a life of crime," Flynn said angrily. "A lot of things happened, Flynn. It's not that simple," Yuri said, no longer wanting to really speak to the Knight. I noticed movement behind the two and Kairi began beating me to the punch and began charging snap cast and firebolt. "Simple or not, a crime is a crime," Flynn said angrily as a bolt of fire quickly past by his head to hit the assassin that was stealthily coming in behind them, making him crash further into the pile of boxes.

Kairi was in the center of the alleyway entrance and ran to hide behind the corner, peaking out when she noticed the two saw her, her cheeks pink as she peeped on the two. "Wow, Kairi," I was still peeping out, but looking down at Kairi, "Be a little more prideful, say, yeah I saved your asses, give me praise."

"You two! You're the women in the wanted posters," Flynn shouted. "And that you can tell because of the poster makes me want to hit you," I pouted angrily at him for the oblivious insult, I didn't dislike him, but I wasn't gonna like him for a WHILE…

* * *

Oh my god, we finally got to Flynn! Huzzah!

Caryn: What about me?! D:

Next time, I wrote 1,000 more words this time than my previous chapters just to get to him.

Justin: 13 chapters and you still ain't don't with Ragou yet, most fanfictions go so fast you're in Nor Harbor by like the 4rth or 7th chapter.

Well excuse me for wanting to be detailed…yet fail miserably at it lolz

Caryn: So, I'm next guaranteed?!

Yeah, yeah, though I might not get to that chapter yet, I still got some drabbles to write and crack chapters XP

Caryn: *sniffles* Just say it…you hate me…

I love you bitch! XD LOLZ

Caryn: I LOVE YOU TOO, YOU FUCKING WHORE! XD LOLZ! *hugs*

Justin: Good god …save me…

Next Time: Caroline 3


	15. 14: Save the Drama for your Rhybgaro

Got this one up sooner than I figured….but it may be a while before the next one…you'll see at the very bottom why….NO IT'S NOT STOPPING, SO STOP WISHING FOR IT! XD LOLZ

Please remember, ( ) parenthesis are MY thoughts, _italics are telepathic talk between me and Kairi_

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Tales of Vesperia, Justin, or Caryn. I DO have permission to use Justin and Caryn though. I OWN myself, Kairi, and my work in this fic. That is all….

* * *

"Honestly, thanks for the insult, I feel welcomed already," I continued to pout sarcastically at Flynn who looked confused.

"You're both wanted for many terrible crimes. Don't resist arrest, and you won't be harmed," Flynn tried to reason with us. Come to think of it…

"Say Yuri, what's Kairi's wanted status at?" I asked curiously.

"Yuri, you know them?" Flynn asked seriously, probably thinking his childhood friend was starting a gang….well technically he is, it'll be called Brave Vesperia in the future haha.

Yuri peered at the poster, "Huh, still at 100 gald."

"Terrible crimes, eh? No fair that hers hasn't gone up. I might be violence happy, but I don't count what I've done as 'terrible' crimes. I reject your reality and substitute my own! I bow to no authority on this planet!" I began to rant, still pouty at Flynn's insult.

Yuri looked at me wide eyed when I mentioned 'planet,' though it's not like Flynn got what I was saying anyways. The blonde continued to stare at me harshly, until a spring of hair, popped up on his head making me laugh.

"Hahahahaha! Oh my god, your hair! This rain isn't agreeing with it! Ahahahaha!" I laughed out as Flynn quickly began to pat down his hair in embarassment, Kairi turned away to hide the giggles.

"It's been like that for a while, it's not the rain," Flynn muttered loudly enough for us to hear.

"Oh….COOL! My hair curse worked!" I said smirking at Yuri who was still wide eyed looking between us.

Flynn just glared harshly, "Just what do you mean by hair curse?"

"Hey, you had it coming for making us walk so far," I pouted again.

The sound of footsteps behind us caught our attention as we noticed the pink healer heading our way. Yuri just slightly face palmed before responding to Flynn, "…Good to see you're as stubborn as always, I… uh-oh." It seems Yuri picked up on the footsteps as well, noting our reaction.

"Liana, Kairi, why'd you two run off like that? We're supposed to be taking a shower at the inn. Is everything O-," Estelle said as she walked in front of us, ignoring the alley until she saw our gaze was on what was inside the alley.

"Perfect timing," Yuri said as he pointed to Estelle, as if Flynn needed direction for his eyes.

"…Flynn!" Estelle shouted happily as she ran to hug him.

"Huh…?" Flynn said, surprised by the sudden tight embrace. He began to fidget and become nervous as Estelle proceeded to pat him down, lift arms, look at his legs, checking him out everywhere to ensure he wasn't harmed. Yuri just waltzed over to us against the wall, honestly my inner self was saying he was just trying to avoid watching the Estelle x Flynn moment going on, but I also couldn't tell if it might be due to the fact that we were wanted criminals too.

"Oh, Flynn. Are you alright? Have you been hurt?" Estelle asked worriedly, still checking him.

"Uh…I-I'm fine. Um, Lady Estellise…" Flynn said nervously, I couldn't tell if it was her check up or the fact that he had 3 wanted criminals before him and didn't want us to 'get away'.

"Oh! I'm sorry. I was just so happy to see you, I…" Estelle began to stutter as Flynn looked in thought. I was happy Caryn wasn't here, she'd march up to Estelle and yank her away from him SO HARD right now.

"…Please, this way," Flynn said with a smile as he began to drag Estelle with him back to the inn. When he said that I began to think of Jude….working in a hospital….having his patients follow him to a room to give them a 'checkup'….yeah Caryn would murder me if I told her that…

"What? Ah, but… Flynn, there's something I need to tell you…!" Estelle got out as he dragged her by. We watched them turn the corner to the inn and we knew, they'd have a lot to talk about…I hoped she wouldn't tell Flynn about Earth, especially since he was still an ally for Alexei for now…. he'll be the Commandant's lap dog along with Schwann until Estelle get's abducted…that's gonna be a long time to keep him in the dark….

"…We'd better go find Karol and Rita," Yuri said to us with his funny look. I lightly punched his arm, "I'm getting used to that look, but your still trying to make me laugh," I pouted to hide the giggles. "Hey, it's not like I try to make it," Yuri said with that look still….this guy, seriously. "Besides, Karol and Rita should be back at the inn with Repede to shower up before we all-," I answered, until…

"Atchoo!" Kairi sneezed again, this time grabbing her arms and shivering. "catch cold….that's the second time… Kairi caught one I'm sure…" I said nervously now.

"Hey, I didn't ask you two to come check on me, you should've headed to the inn without me," Yuri said sweat dropping.

"What can I say…you got fans," I teased Yuri, while Kairi slightly jerked at my choice of words. At that we all headed back to the inn to find Karol and Rita under the inn canopy.

Karol looked worried, "Some guy just dragged Estelle right by us…" Yuri looked and asked, "Are they both inside the inn?" (Yup, they're getting it on!~ Haha jk….god Caryn would murder me…) Karol began to settle down, realizing Estelle was in no danger due to Yuri's calm demeanor, "Yep. So that other guy was Flynn, then?"

"Yeah, well…" Yuri said, as if trying to think, before he put his hands on the doorknob. Seriously, I had to wonder if he was jealous right now.

"You might not be able to get a word in edgewise if you went in now, Rita threw in. "It seems like they might be in there a while. Wanna burn time walking around town a bit?" Karol asked.

"…Sure, okay," Yuri said a bit distracted…I really wondered if he was jealous.

"Kairi just about has a cold though, it's best if she stays out of the rain for a while. I'll go do some shopping then," I voiced my thoughts. Yuri turned over to me, "I'll come too then." Probably was worried the Red Eyes were still around.

The both of us shopped for a bit, before returning towards the inn. Once we rounded the edge, I peaked out to ask if I could have some help with the bags, only to drop them in surprise. Yuri seeing me drop the bags ran over to me quickly thinking something was wrong, "What's wrong?! What is it?!" He followed my gaze to a girl in front of the group who was staring back at me with surprised eyes.

A familiar pair of blue eyes with a short orange mop of hair stared at me in return. Silence ensued between us for a while until recognition set in and we both threw our arms out, smiling.

"You BITCH!" I shouted smiling as I ran towards her.

"You WHORE!" She shouted as she ran towards me.

"GAH!" Was the girl's response as I tackled and smothered her flat chest with my boobs. We rolled around and laughed for a minute until silence came back as we noted everyone's expression of two grown women rolling around on top of each other in the rainy, flooded street…it was priceless!

"This is more weird and embarrassing than I thought…" I said to Caryn. "Hey, we promised to do this if we ever got to meet face to face! Promises are promises!" She shouted poutily. I turned and was quickly sweat dropping. "…It's….Caryn…" I said helplessly at everyone's traumatized gaze. "I think we broke them," Caryn finally declared with a cheeky smile. Kairi looked a bit uneasy, Caryn must've tried to talk to her earlier, probably didn't recognize her either. "Well, this is Yuri, Karol, Rita, and Kairi," I 'introduced' everyone to her.

"Kairi?" Caryn asked a bit confused, she probably was like, 'I don't recall a Kairi in the game'. "Yeah, Kairi, from DeviantArt, Gaia Online, IMVU, she's usually talking in the background in skype, the one who ducks her head when she gets to the camera, or in the IMVU chat room, remember?" I gave her a wink, to try to get her to realize, but that didn't take too long before she unhugged me.

"KAIRI?!" She shouted as she hopped up to see Kairi crouching down. Kairi weakly waved, unsure of what to do, though nothing could have prepared her for Caryn….

"OH MY GOD!" She tackled Kairi to the ground and immediately began to squeeze her breast. "GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Kairi screamed at the sudden groping.

"MOTHER OF GOD! These things are bigger and softer than in the pictures! You both ended up with them and I didn't….It's not fair! These?! THESE! THESE CAN'T EVEN BE CALLED BOOBS ANYMORE! WHAT…! JUST WHAT ARE THESE?!" Caryn shouted in frustration, before she began trying to lift Kairi's dress.

"Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii! C-C-Caryn! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Kairi squealed as she fought to keep Caryn from lifting her dress, her face turning red.

Caryn looked dead serious, "I wanna see if your hips and butt really are like soft round bubbles that combine to make a heart like in the swimsuit pictures!"

Kairi was a tomato who looked about ready to cry, intervention time. "DOWN BITCH, DOWN!" I shouted as I chopped Caryn on the head. She turned to me with a pouty face and Kairi seemed thankful.

"So, she's a friend?" Yuri asked looking at Caryn funny. "Yeah, she's the friend I told you about," I replied, but Yuri looked confused. "So, your friend is a Krityan?" I blinked stupidly at him….huh?

"What's a Krittey Anne?" I turned back to Caryn, and indeed began to note with her now wet hair, there were two very tiny pointy ears poking out (Huh…I thought Krityans had longer ears, these are cuter….no fair!). I pointed at her and my mouth ajar, "You're an ELF! How?!"

"Don't look at me," Caryn sassed back at me and Yuri, "When that light disappeared I just had them on my head, and not Krittey Anne, Krityan, Krit like a Critical hit, Yan like yams, but with n. My travelling buddies told me about them when we saw some in Aspio, I thought they were elves too."

"Elves?" Karol asked confused, though Yuri broke it up, "Travelling buddies? And you went to Aspio with them, then here?"

Caryn looked up at him, "Yeah, a knight named Flynn and their brigade, I ended up somehow in his tent after the light on the screen-" At that she suddenly seem to stiffen up as if she realized she may have said too much.

"Don't worry, they know about Earth, that we're aliens, about you and Justin, we filled 'em in, and what happened to trigger us here, the specific details for 'how' we got here… dunno," I said to relax her a bit since she looked about to freak out, though not telling her the 'details' on why and how we were here.

"Oh…," she stood up and took a deep breathe, "Thank god! I open my mouth too much at times, you know…"

Though the fact that she was freaking out for Yuri and the gang to know that we were from another planet, made me have one question, "Um, Caryn, that thought…have you told Flynn about Earth?"

She twiddled her thumbs, "I'm not a good judge of character much like you are Lian'…he's been very nice to me…but…I just get scared when I think about it…so no, I haven't said a thing…or even hinted at it…"

"Good, cause I'm not 100% sure yet on if I can even spill the beans, especially after that first impression in the alley way," I said rolling my eyes at the memory.

"Oh, where'd he go? We went for a walk, then he said he saw something and ran off," Caryn asked a bit worriedly.

"He dragged Estelle into the inn to talk, Estelle's another travelling companion of ours," I answered with a smirk, I knew she was inwardly swearing and murdering Estelle a million times over.

"O-oh…okay, well we got a room at the inn, so I'll be heading in. You guys should get in to get a room to shower too bef-" Caryn began. "Hetchooo," Kairi sneezed and shivered again. "Yeah, that's kinda too late for one of us, but a shower would be nice, I'm starting to get cold too," I put in my two cents.

"Then, lets see if those two are done talking," Yuri said as he grabbed the doorknob again.

"Should we go inside?" Karol asked confused. Yuri nodded and we all headed in to the check out desk to get a room.

Caryn walked over towards the left door, sad to say this inn only has 2 rooms, "Our room is here, so they should be talking in there."

Yuri nodded and opened the door and we all headed inside, "All finished?"

The two seemed to acknowledge Yuri, until they began whispering again, I swore I heard Caryn's knuckles crack a bit due to clenching them in jealousy. "And are we done whispering secrets?" Yuri asked with a devilish smile.

"I've heard your story up until this point, Yuri. And also the reason for the bounty on your head," Flynn said before getting up to face us and continue with a nod, "First off. I owe you my thanks for protecting her."

Estelle sat up as well, bowing, "Oh, I've been meaning to express my gratitude as well, Yuri."

"It's nothing. I was already out searching for that blastia thief," Yuri just simple replied, he kept his eyes on Flynn as Flynn moved closer. "And that's where we have a problem," Flynn said strictly.

"Hmm?" Yuri said with a serious gaze as Flynn looked over at Yuri…and at Kairi, and Me?

"Regardless of what planet you come from or the circumstances, the imperial law cannot allow the obstruction of officers, assault on the knights, jail breaking, and trespassing," Flynn said with a strict tone that made me, Kairi, and Caryn pale up. Estelle told him…Estelle FUCKING TOLD HIM!

I felt my blood boiling a bit, I didn't want him to know YET. He's fucking loyal to Alexei! If somehow, for some reason, a knight reports to Alexei that Kairi can use 'magic' without a blastia, the first person he may send is Raven to investigate, but he may also have Flynn gather info or report to him anything he may know…and with that he believes in Alexei…he'll tell him with no trouble at all….DAMNIT!

"I'm sorry. I'm afraid I told him everything," Estelle said worriedly, though her plain expression said otherwise.

"Don't be sorry. I mean I did all that stuff," Yuri said with his goofy grin towards Flynn.

"Then I assume you all are pre-" Flynn started strictly, before I cut him off. I couldn't take this anymore…

"Apology NOT accepted!" I shouted at Estelle, everyone turning to look at me with wide eyes, "Kairi didn't tell you the truth so you can blab about it! We can't even trust YOU with one secret?! I know this Flynn guy isn't a bad guy, but his eyes tell me half of him I can't believe in!"

"Lian'," Caryn began, trying to calm me down, but I was pissed.

"NO! Don't ask me to calm down! It's not about the alley way impression, it's right now! I don't like half of his eyes! Even when Yuri gets mad I can see in his eyes that I can trust him fully! And half isn't enough to say 'I'll trust you with my life and my friend's lives', it's not enough DAMNIT! I don't appreciate someone saying what I should be saying, when I decide to say it! My god damn trust and faith, I'll decide when to give it, don't go deciding for me! My own fate hasn't been in my own two hands since the second I got here, other than deciding who to tell and who not to tell…GOD DAMNIT!" I ranted, I was beginning to hyperventilate due to not taking any breathes between sentences, but I was steaming.

"L-Liana…Flynn is a good knight, he-" Estelle began looking hurt, but I cut her off again.

"HALF Estelle! You can believe in him, cause you KNOW him! But I don't KNOW him, and I'm at HALF, and here's why-," I shouted before turning to Flynn, "Did she tell you about Kairi's Magic?!"

Flynn looked surprised, but regained his composure, "Yes, Lady Estellise has informed me of everything. To which I also assume, Caryn is from Earth."

Estelle looked surprised at Caryn while Caryn looked down; she was conflicted right now, especially since she was in love with Flynn BADLY, while I continued, "So then, can YOU honestly say with 100% certainty that if a higher officer, hell even your rulers got wind of Kairi's ability to use magic without a blastia that you wouldn't disclose any information or take her in if given the order?!"

Flynn looked taken aback and conflicted, "…"

My shoulders fell and I felt numb, "…Wow….that was a fast effective response…you proved the half….thank you for showing me that real knights don't seem to exist anymore, goodbye…." I turned and began walking towards the door to leave this room, this inn….this town, I wanted to cry…I didn't care where I'd go, just anywhere AWAY from Flynn and Estelle, but I turned back to him one more time, my expression conflicted, "AND SCREW YOUR DAMN EMPIRE! I'M NOT GONNA SIT BACK AND LET YOU ARREST ME FOR DOING SELF DEFENSE! I WASN'T BORN ON THIS SOIL OR RAISED IN IT! HELL, I DIDN'T WANT TO BE ON IT AND LESS SO NOW! SO TAKE YOUR FUCKING RULES AND SHOVE IT UP YOUR ASS! I'M GOING HOME!"

"Liatchooo!" Kairi tried shouting as I opened the door.

I heard Yuri and Estelle shout for me, but I slammed the door behind me and began to fast walk out of the inn, avoiding Witcher and Sodia as I ran outside of the town, but remained within the confines of the barrier, the scent of my blood would only attract monsters and while blowing off steam with monsters would help, too many monsters can get me killed.

I might as well have tried to stop the rain, I fought the tears, but they still fell (…haha FFXIII reference…). I fell on my ass in the mud, just sitting there for a while as the rain drenched down on me. I couldn't get sick with rain that easily, when I was little, the streets of my first home I ever lived in would flood when it rained, so I'd go swimming in the streets as it rained. I never caught colds from rain, ever. I was really getting homesick already…

I must've sat there for longer than I thought, as I heard a pair of footsteps splashing behind me, "So, this is where you are, huh?" I slightly smiled, he sounded so normal, but I could feel his anger at my back, I turned slowly to peer up at big brother Yuri, scowling at me with serious eyes.

"Do you realize how reckless it was to run off without telling any of us where you were headed? You're wanted by the knights at 41,000 gald or have you forgotten?!" Yuri said, his voice raising as he began to try to drill in the big picture on his concerns. He was worried about that I may have gotten caught, it hurt to think that I made HIM worry, it's all I'd ever been doing, but… it's not like I asked him to care… I keep forgetting who he is…

I turned away and returned my gaze to the sky, "I would say I don't care…but that would be a lie, I just wanted some air… if anyone came at me to catch me, I'll fight for my freedom, simple enough… if that's all, you can head back…" The anger I was feeling was slightly fading to annoyance, but he still spoke normally, "Oh no, you're coming along. We should head back, having two people catch colds isn't gonna do any of us any good."

"I don't catch colds from the rain," I bluntly said, "When I was little, I lived an hour away from South Padre Island, so in event of Hurricanes or Tropical storms whatever they were…the houses in my neighborhood were raised up by 3 steps, and the streets were an extra 3 steps to get down to. The steps were small, but it was enough for cars on the street to be flooded up to above their tires and a bit more, trucks were more lifted so those were the cars that mainly drove through our street on flooded days. So when it rained, the streets would flood up to the 2nd step, even up to the 3rd step of our house… if it rained, me and my little brother would go swimming in the streets… dangerous thing, but the closest I ever came to getting ran over was thwarted by my dog who saved me since drivers can't see what's under the water when they drive thru. I never once got sick…"

Silence seemed to ensue for a bit, he was probably thinking of how to persuade me to go back, or how to take me back without me hitting him. "Well, we got the ingredients for that chicken soup you said you were gonna make for Kairi. You not gonna make it now? You promised," Yuri said, remarking some things I said and promised back when we were shopping.

I jerked, god dang it, he had to play the 'you promised' card… I can't stand not keeping promises, so… blast you Lowell…

"Fine… but I'm cursing you when I get there," I replied as I got up, not caring about the drips of cold mud, sliding down my dress and legs. "Huh, why me?" Yuri asked a bit pouty. "Cause I need to curse something, you're here, you're already cursed, so you're used to it, and remind me to extend Flynn's hair curse and give him some acne, he deserves that," I pouted back at him, "…Okay maybe not acne, Caryn may strangle me if I damage her new buddies reputation with facial pimples…therefore I'll curse you double with…hmmm…"

Yuri sweat dropped for a bit at the sight of me thinking of a curse to bestow upon him, before smirking, "Well, looks like you're back to normal. So let's go." I poutily looked at him, "And how was I not normal earlier? I get mad, I let people know I'm mad, and why I'm mad, that's no surprise. That does it, I shall curse you to not be a ninja, therefore your stealth skills will plummet and you shall fall upon your face every time, until….until something…" (At least until Kairi realizes what's up and uses her emotional instability with her power to remove it from you before the time limit).

"Fair enough, lets just get back to the inn," Yuri said with a goofy grin. I merely punched his shoulder due to it to keep me from laughing before we returned to the inn. I got permission to use the kitchen and began trying to remake my dad's amazingly effective Chicken Soup. What made it so effective for colds? All those spices and peppers, it was so spicy the cold will just run out of you with your snot…seriously it will, haha. Though since a majority of our team wasn't sick, just one, I only added the spices to Kairi's bowl.

It's a time-consuming thing to make, first boil the chicken, debone it, cube it, use the broth to make a soup, throw in chopped up vegetables and 1 whole chopped up potato, then spices and peppers…at least that was what I remembered. It was late when it was done, but everyone was at the table eager for dinner. Flynn joined us along with Caryn, seems Sodia and Witcher didn't want in on a free meal, ugh I wish I could've peppered up Flynn's bowl, but then he'd just like it….cause his taste buds are stupid…

I took note as everyone seemed to like the soup, though I avoided any eye contact with Flynn or Estelle, I wasn't up to talk with them yet, so I focused on Karol.

"Wow, this is really tasty," Karol said happily as he drank the broth, I took note, he didn't eat the vegetables.

"Baby boy, that's not good, you need to eat your vegetables, or you won't get all big and strong. Or worse, you could get fat like me!" I tried to scare him, it worked.

"Gyah! I'll eat it, I'll eat it!" Karol said as he began to pick the vegetables and ate them.

"Wow baby boy, you could've just said 'Oh, no I won't', you didn't have to accept it that hard…" I sweat dropped as Caryn began laughing her ass off at me. "Baby Boy? Ahahaha, well at least he's eating it, so he won't be as bad as you are," Caryn played, but I pouted at her.

Kairi was just sniffling up a storm as she ate, every minute having to wipe her nose. "Uhm, Kairi, are you okay? Is it getting worse?" Estelle asked concerned.

"Huh? Oh, no…the soup is just very spicy," Kairi sniffled and began wiping her nose again after answering Estelle when a snot dripped down her nose. Estelle looked confused, "Spicy? It's not spicy though."

Yuri took his spoon and got a spoonful from Kairi's bowl and took a taste before grabbing his cup of water and gulping it down, "Pah! Man, that's hot stuff! Liana, what'd you put in it?!" Kairi turned a bit pink as she stared back down at her bowl, not being able to make herself take another bite thanks to Yuri's actions.

"Some cracked pepper, lots of jalapenos, salt, Cajun seasoning, and creole seasoning. It's only in Kairi's bowl, she's the one who's sick, so I made it kinda how my daddy makes it but with a twist of: more spice," I proudly puffed up and smirked at Yuri, who still looked like he needed more water.

"Liana," Yuri huffed out as he drank another cup of water that Estelle got him, "That's a little too sadistically hot….atchooo."

That got our attention, we all stared at the long-haired swordsman as he wiped his nose. "Uh oh, looks like I'm gonna have to get another bowl set…" I said sweat dropping. I cursed myself inwardly, Yuri wasn't supposed to get sick, this could ruin a lot of the timeline of the story… how long had he been out in the rain trying to find me?

"Oh no, I ain't eating a bowl of 'that'," Yuri complained as he sneezed again.

"Yuri, you shouldn't complain, especially when someone is offering you aid," Flynn argued with him, the two began to bromance argue while I got up and took away Yuri's bowl to refill it and add all my goodies before setting it back down in front of him along with a second glass of water without him noticing.

"I said, I ain't gonna eat it, and that's that," Yuri said to Flynn before grabbing a spoonful of soup and popping it in his mouth. He began to cough galore before grabbing a glass of water and chugging it down. Yuri turned to me with angry eyes, "Liana!"

I glared back, "Yuri!" We engaged in a glaring contest, in which Yuri finally blinked and cursed before taking another spoonful of soup along with the chicken as his loss. I win every staring contest in my family, guess I'm just that much of a zombie or lifeless…yeah I got no life XD

* * *

-*-Liana's Chicken Soup -*-

Karol: Liana, that soup was amazing!

Rita: It's just like some drink…but, it's okay, I guess…

Estelle: It had so many vegetables! It was very tasty and nutritious!

Liana: ….Not enough….

Karol: Huh?

Liana: It's not enough….it's no where near as good as my dad's version….

Caryn: Oh yeah, your dad used to work in the restaurant business for years until he graduated college and became a P.E. Coach.

Liana: …..His broth is richer in flavor…mine was like water…his vegetables are perfectly chewable with a hint of crunch…mine were a tad bit mushy….tch, if only I knew what exact spices he uses and how many….I had to wing it…and those giant chunks of chicken compared to his uniform bite size…..

Caryn: You just 'winged' it and it's this good?!

Flynn: Your father must be quite the chef.

Kairi: *sniffles**wipes nose* Well…he is the one who taught Liana a bit about cooking, she just does what she can and experiments at times.

Yuri: *dying* Chef or not….why am I the only one dying here?

* * *

After everyone was done, and Yuri was dead at the table, everyone left to get set for bed except for Caryn, Flynn, Kairi, and Me.

"Ugh, Kairi…how'd you eat all that, without needing water every bite?" Yuri asked, looking up at her empathetically as the two had 'shared' the ordeal. Kairi turned a darker pink, "H-Huh?! Me? Uh well…I…I ummm…I'm used to it…Liana and I eat Hot Cheetos, Ghost Pepper Ranch Chicken wings….lots of spicy things…"

Yuri then turned his head back into the table grumbling, ignoring Flynn's lecture, and just about falling asleep at the table. "Ah, he's asleep, we need to get him to bed and get some towels to wet and put on his forehead, along with you," I said aloud and turned to Kairi.

"I'll take him to bed, you needn't trouble yourself," Flynn insisted. I didn't want to talk to the guy, not now, but I faked a smile like Jade Curtis and used an overly happy tone, "Oh no. We got him, no worries, you should go to bed ahead of us, since you're SO busy."

Flynn was about to open his mouth again, but Caryn knew I was still pissed. She grabbed Flynn's arm and lied to try to get him out of there, "We should head back. They got him, plus Sodia and Witcher are probably worrying about us…"

"Your right…Well then Miss Liana, Miss Kairi, I'll leave Yuri to you," Flynn nodded before walking out the room along with Caryn.

"Geez, finally he's gone, guess I'll go shower and head to be-" I began saying in relief until I turned to look at Kairi, and I found myself gaining a devilish grin. Kairi was beside Yuri staring at his sleeping face in thought a bit, her cheeks pink, and her smile soft.

" _Oh, Kairi, Dear~_ " I called, making her stiffen up, realizing I was about to tease her mercilessly.

" _Liana, please, leave me alone…not this time…_ " She began begging.

" _Awww, but you just looked so happy. Thinking about stealing a kiss?_ " I teased with a grin.

" _Not on the lips, I can't do that to him…..but….I wont lie….I want to_ ," Kairi said normally with a hint of sadness.

I went silent for a bit watching her, no blush or embarrassing stutter…she wasn't in the mood for teasing, she wasn't kidding, Kairi looked in thought, her eyes both loving yet filled with pain. I sighed before realizing I'd have to break this moment, "Kairi, we gotta get him to bed now. I'll take one arm, you take the other."

"….Okay," Kairi just agreed after a few moments, she slid his left arm over her shoulder as I walked over and slid his right arm over my shoulder and we carried him to the best of our ability to the room and laid him in bed. Everyone had gone asleep in the time it took for us to let Yuri sleep at the table, so there wasn't a ruckus about why Kairi was staring at Yuri again beside his bed.

I grabbed a bowl of water and some small towels, wet and rang one up and placed it on Yuri's forehead as he slept soundly, which was rare, guess he trusts that Flynn wont arrest him in the middle of the night. "Well, I'm gonna hit the hay, don't forget to get a towel on your head too Kairi," I said to the girl as she focused on the sleeping swordsman.

"I will, I'm just gonna look after him a bit longer…" Kairi said a bit sadly, but her eyes were changing, from pain, to joy, to…determination? Either way, I couldn't make her sleep…

"Alright, just don't sleep too late," I said as I showered up, changed, and went to bed, I frowned a bit when I noticed the small goddess hadn't gone to bed after my shower, but kept quiet. I had no dreams, my subconscious was too filed with worries and anger to dream of anything like I normally do…it made me feel a bit sad.

* * *

Once we all woke up and had breakfast, we all began to head out, thank god it wasn't raining again, but it would in a while…I inwardly groaned at that and began searching my bag for umbrellas, I had 2 large golf umbrellas, 1 OK sized umbrella, 1 personal small umbrella and 1 umbrella that I wasn't sure was an actual umbrella or a parasol…it'll have to be an umbrella for now…if not I had 2 rain coats for me and Kairi…don't know why I didn't grab them sooner…

Yuri looked a lot better, I had to guess Kairi wished for him to be better, especially since she was still somewhat sick, but no more sneezes. I found the umbrellas and yanked them out and began distributing them among the group: Karol got my little personal teal umbrella since it's a bit small for an adult, but big enough for him. Kairi and I had my large navy/baby blue umbrella that had my name written in black sharpie on the baby blue panel to share. Yuri got my little brother's OK sized black umbrella. Rita got my dad's big navy umbrella, and I gave Estelle my OK sized white Parasol/Umbrella…. cause, if it poured through on her I didn't care, and she could always get under Rita's umbrella; cause my dad's umbrella is large like mine, my brother went for looks and not entirely size, so she couldn't share with Yuri.

"So, what's the plan?" Karol asked as we all were gathered at the inn door…guess no one cared that we were blocking an entrance.

"I'm going to go see Magistrate Ragou," Estelle said with determination. Karol looked at her like she was stupid, guess I was rubbing off on him, d'aw, "What? We'll get turned away at the gate if we try to go there. Even a noblewoman like you would have no chance of getting in."

"Yeah, but with the harbor barricaded, we can't cross over to Torim Harbor. And that thief Dedecchi, along with that one-eyed giant, are both on the other side of the water," Yuri said as a matter of factly taking Estelle's side.

"Wow, I missed some things running off like that, didn't I?" I sweat dropped and lied.

"Yeah, we'll fill you in, just hold on," Yuri said turning to me.

"Let's stop blabbing about it and just go, why don't we?" Rita complained wanted to get moving before it rained.

"If he wont listen to what we have to say, we can think of another plan. Liana, we'll inform you on the way," Yuri said with a nod.

Estelle just smiled up at Yuri, "All right, let's head to Ragou's palace, then!"

* * *

-*- Yuri's better -*-

Karol: Wow Yuri, you sure made a full recovery fast.

Liana: Because my soup is genius *smirk*

Yuri: …I'd rather not have to eat that again…

Karol: But it can't have been the soup! Kairi's still kinda sick.

Kairi: *sniffle* Sorry…

Yuri: It's all thanks to Estelle, she took care of me pretty good, that's probably why I feel a lot better.

Kairi: ! ….

Estelle: Oh, it was nothing. Really, I just changed the towel is all.

Rita: So…you fixed him up…hmmm….

Kairi: …. *walks off*

Liana: Hm? Kairi?

Repede: *…whine*

* * *

I noticed out of the corner of my eye a rubber ducky going around madly in circles near the lamp post and ran towards it with Kairi. I was just letting out all my shit filled giggles while Kairi knelt down to watch the Wonder Chef just being the Wonder Chef.

"Huh? Why's a rubber duck going around in circles?" Karol asked confused at the sight.

"That hat, c'mon, it's a dead giveaway!" I laughed as I pointed at the duck despite my many awkwardly received stares. Kairi proceeded to poke it, and the cycle repeated once again.

An explosion with a puff of smoke cause Kairi to fall back, the sudden appearance of the Wonder Chef had Yuri pointing his drawn sword at him placing himself between the Wonder Chef. and us, with the Wonder Chef hoping Yuri wouldn't slice him like sashimi, ah the nostalgia of Aspio.

"Hm, you're that guy from back at Aspio," Yuri said as he lowered his sword, and the chef let out his breath in relief before regaining his demeanor.

"No rainy day can stop cooking! Which is why today as a reward for finding me, I'll grant you a recipe!" He handed Kairi the recipe and turned to us, "Nothing can beat a Sorbet on a frigid rainy day! Those who wish to delve past their sorrows and fill that void?! A nice bucket of Sorbet is your companion! To the seekers of sweet teeth, Sorbet is the answer to all! Bon Appetit!" And with that he poofed away leaving us all sweat dropping.

"But….we still can't read it…," I looked at it and found the r, e, and t, which helped me locate the word 'Sorbet', "Oh, I got 3 new letters to study, huzzah! That leaves 2 more vowels, and 16 more regular letters to go! Oh wait!" My enthusiasm was making the group uneasy as I looked at the Salisbury Steak Recipe and the Sorbet recipe, and put 2 and 2 together to get more letters, "I got just 11 more letters to go, I got all the vowels now!"

"That fast?!" Rita said in amazement.

"Yeah! I plug in and deduce what the word can and may be, and got my thing, like In sorbet I learned SOB…..ok…ignoring the acronym…but plug in what I've learned so far from the Wanted and Reward in the poster, plus this SOB into the old one and I get, Sa—sbur- Stea-, that Stea- has to be Steak! So I get K, and Sa—sbur-…it's gotta be Salisbury, for Salisbury steak, so that's LIY! So now I know, A/B/D/E/I/K/L/N/O/R/S/T/U/W/ and Y!" I explained, which made everyone, but Rita look at me oddly at my nerdiness.

Though Estelle began to pout, "So much for me teaching her…She learns so fast."

* * *

Upon almost reaching the mansion, it began to rain and we all had to use our Umbrellas. We waltzed up as the two guards came out to greet us, Estelle taking front stage to ask for permission.

"Whaddaya want?" The armored guard asked Estelle.

"I'd like to meet with Magistrate Ragou, if you'd be so kind," Estelle asked politely.

Karol whispered to Yuri, but we could hear, "Yuri, these men are mercenaries. I wonder what guild they're from…"

"I guess that explains the thuggish look," Yuri said pointing out their fashion.

"Hmph, go home! Scram! The magistrate is a busy man," the emo looking one said…kinda bias and stereotyping on my end, but I couldn't help it…I considered him emo.

"Surely not too busy to rough up the people in this town?" Yuri said sarcastically, I kinda wanted to laugh.

"Hey, you better watch your mouth, punk!" the armored one said. God, I know we wanted to save Pauly and get Rhybgaro's horn, but I really wanted to just slug these guys now and break in like EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY…

"See, I told you he wouldn't see us. Let's get out of here before things get sticky," Karol said strictly, he wasn't kidding, right now we can't fight or we'd be causing nothing but trouble for now.

"I'd have to agree with Captain Karol on this one," Yuri said to Estelle as he turned to head away.

Estelle just turned to Yuri, "But, there must be some other way…" Her face turned from determination to disappointment at the fact that Yuri didn't seem to be backing her anymore for now.

Karol and Repede followed him as did Kairi, Rita and I turned before Rita spoke up, "Forget it. Let's go."

Estelle just bowed at them before running to catch up with Yuri as Rita and I walked off earlier.

"We'd best leave the frontal assault on the palace to the Imperial Knights," Yuri said peaking back at the entrance.

"It doesn't even look like a palace…. It's more like a Mansion…" I said as I looked back at this 'palace'.

"But isn't the fact that that's going so badly precisely what's got Flynn in such a bad mood?" Rita said, pointing out our problem.

"Hmph. Maybe he'd see us if we came bearing gifts, so to speak?" Yuri said, hinting at what happened when we first came to town. Though everyone but Karol didn't catch on… well more like I was playing dumb and Kairi wasn't paying attention… she seemed to be sulking.

"A gift? What do you mean?" Rita asked curiously.

Yuri was a bit stunned to see the two 'geniuses' not getting it, "The Rhybgaro. It's worth a fair amount of money, right?"

"Come to think of it, that official mentioned the Rhybgaro. He said that someone with its horn would never have to worry about taxes again," Estelle recalled and recited.

"If we brought something that valuable, the magistrate would at least grant us an audience," Yuri mentioned, to which everyone seemed to perk up, except Kairi.

"You propose to catch the Rhybgaro?" Rita asked him, she looked at him like he was nuts; and without a plan, she wasn't gonna be game.

"This is our chance! It's raining, after all!" Karol said excitedly.

"What does rain have to do with it?" Estelle asked confused.

Karol puffed up in pride, "The Rhybgaro comes out of hiding when it's raining! Out of all the monsters I know, it's the only one that goes out in the rain."

"Awww, baby boy is so smart," I said as I ruffled his hair causing him to fight with my hands to make stop, which I wasn't, haha.

"Capital observation, Captain Karol," Yuri said smirking for a bit before returning to his poker face, "What else?"

"You're supposed to say 'Brilliant Deduction, Watson!' it's classic on Earth! Then ask for more info, what else baby boy?" I smirked happily at Yuri before smiling down at Karol.

Karol stopped struggling to look between us helplessly before responding, "…What do you mean, 'What else?' That's all there is to it!"

"So where's the Rhybgaro now?" Yuri asked, he was playing with him now.

"Yeah baby boy, where?" I teased too.

"Er, uh…" Ah we were so evil…hahaha.

"…Just as I thought," Rita sighed as she realized there was no plan set.

"Well then, let's go talk to the people in town and get their side of the story," Estelle told Yuri, seems she's learned not to try conversing with me when I'm angry at her, nice.

"Are you okay with this, Estelle?" Yuri asked her.

"Yes, Yuri," She answered quickly.

"If we're unlucky, this could put all of us on the wrong side of the law. The one who makes the laws in this town is his lordship, the empire's magistrate. You'd be okay with defying him?" Yuri clarified this time.

Estelle looked in thought for a bit before turning back to Yuri, "…I'm going with you."

"You're okay with it, then," Yuri seemed to ask for confirmation once more.

"Yes," was Estelle's immediate response.

"Rita, you don't have any problems with it?" Yuri asked, seems he was going down the line.

"I have to say, I'm incredibly interested in a blastia that can control the weather," Rita said, which answered Yuri's question.

"Liana, what about you? Your bounty is already set pretty high," Yuri asked staring at me.

I just devilishly grinned, "That cheap thing? Peeshaw, I won't be satisfied until it's 100,000 gald, let me at it!"

He smirked at me before turning to Kairi, "Kairi, Flynn cleared you, you still want to go through with this?"

There was no response, Kairi just seemed to be looking into space towards the bridge. "Kairi?" Yuri asked again, still no response…weird, she'd usually answer him back as quick as lightning.

" _Kairi? You okay there?_ " I asked her.

"I'm fine…" she weakly replied out loud, her eyes looked dazed and tired, what's with her?

"Huh?" Karol asked, "Your fine? No one said anything though."

"Ah, sorry, trying to telepathically figure this out, please excuse any random outbursts she may say," I said scratching my head. (Why isn't she telepathically speaking back? Is her cold getting worse?)

"Kairi, what's the matter?" Yuri asked his gaze was tinted with concern despite his voice being normal.

"….Nothing the matter….chi…" was her almost silent response.

"Chi?" Estelle said, her head tilting.

I wanted to giggle, she was copying Mochi from Monster Ranchers with her soft speech, but now wasn't the time.

" _Kairi. C'mon say something, you've been weird since yesterday. What's up?_ "

"I'm fine…Rhybgaro…right?...Gotta go…" She replied weakly.

"No, I think it's best of we take you to Flynn and ask if he or Caryn can look after you at the inn while we're out catching Rhybgaro," Yuri said deciding for her.

"No…I'm going…I don't want to go to the inn…" Kairi said a bit more frustrated.

Yuri grabbed her shoulders and turned her around, beginning to push her to make her walk towards the inn, "Nope, sorry. You need to rest, we're going to the inn."

We all began following him as Kairi whimpered and weakly struggled in protest until she rediscovered her voice, "No….I don't want to go to the inn…I want to help….I want to go…we gotta go…"

"Calm down, it's not gonna take us too long, we'll be back before you know it, I promise," Yuri said assuming that she was upset with an idea of being abandoned.

With what seemed like every ounce of energy she had she took one step forward to get out of Yuri's soft grip, spin around as fast as she can, faced the long-haired swordsman eye to eye…and shouted bloody murder, "DON'T TOUCH ME! I SAID I'M FINE! I DON'T WANT TO GO TO THE INN!"

Yuri stared at her wide eyed, everyone did, but no one's eyes were as wide as mine…she just yelled at Yuri…..AT YURI…she doesn't do that….she can't do that….can she?

"What is wrong with-" I began to say loudly until her eyes began to wobble and spin along with her body that began to sway, she still was trying to stay upright and focused.

"Don't want to go back…..I don't want to go back….gotta go….I don't want to….don't…don't….gotta…go…" was all she managed to get out until she began to fall over and lose consciousness.

"Kairi!" Estelle shouted as Yuri quickly tossed his umbrella to catch her, the both of them checking her over.

I chased after my brother's umbrella because he'll murder me if I lose it, and grabbed it before returning to everyone and covering the 3 of them.

"She's burning up really badly. We should get her back to the inn to rest," Estelle said worriedly.

"Sheesh, if she's not feeling well, she should have just said so before we left. She could've avoided being outside earlier," Yuri slightly pouted, but scooped up Kairi with just one arm, before taking the black umbrella from me again as we headed back for the inn.

Once we got to the main central circle of town, Flynn and his brigade walked up and by us, though Flynn stopped. What timing, what coincidence…that was sarcasm just now right?

"You never could sit still, could you?" Flynn began, not noticing the unconscious girl in Yuri's arm…how do you not notice that? Or maybe he just didn't care.

"Stop treating me like a little kid!" Yuri said a tad angrily, he began walking past Flynn towards the entrance and was about to open my mouth, but the two were prone to bromance arguments when nearby each other.

"Yuri, don't do anything reckless…" Flynn pestered again.

"I haven't done anything reckless since the day I was born!" Yuri argued back, "I'm just chasing after a blastia thief!"

"Yuri…" Flynn tried to argue, but Yuri cut him off again.

"You're the one who should ease up on trying to do the impossible, Flynn," Yuri argued once more before proceeding to the entrance.

"Uh, Yuri…forgetting something?" I said before he got too far away.

"Huh?" Yuri just turned to me, his gaze still irritated from his argument with Flynn.

"…Jude….Snow…," Kairi murmured out softly but audibly, quickly catching Yuri's attention.

"Oh…Right. Flynn, can you or Caryn look after Kairi at the inn? Her fever's really bad, she can't come with us now," Yuri said to the blonde knight.

"We're pretty busy, but Caryn's back at the inn. She's nice, she'll take good care of her, I promise," Flynn said as if Yuri needed confirmation on Caryn's dependability.

"No duh there," I said rolling my eyes, "She's one of my best friends…. although I only have 2, I know she won't stab Kairi in her sleep."

"Alright then, lets drop her off and get going," Yuri said as he began heading to the inn, Kairi groaning and murmuring nonsense as we got to the room Flynn was sharing with Sodia, Witcher, and Caryn.

I seriously wondered why the inns all had like 8 beds per room, what if only 2 people need a room, there's like 6 extra beds...well gives them extra places for new positions if it's a couple coming for some fun I guess, hurhur.

"Huh, what's up? Why are you guys here?" Caryn asked confused as to why we weren't out getting Rhybgaro.

"Kairi's sick, so tada, out of the goodness of your heart and Flynn's recommendation, you got sitter duty! It'll keep you from being bored in this room alone," I smirked at her as Yuri set Kairi down on one of the extra beds.

"Sorry to impose, but we can't take her with us, and we can't leave her alone," Yuri added.

"Ok, I'll do what I can, but I don't guarantee miracles," Caryn said a bit cheeky at Yuri.

"Wasn't expecting it," Yuri smirked, "Thanks though."

"No prob!...Just don't take weeks to get back…we may end up in some other city, and we'll leave you another note reading 'Sorry, your princess is another castle'," Caryn playfully remarked.

"Not 'alien'?" I said playfully back.

"Peh, alien makes her sound like some slimy creature with tentacles…I've seen and read too much Hentai to know where that goes. With a body like that, princess is more like it," Caryn playfully pouted.

"Not even 'cupcake'?" I said now starting a list in my head.

"No," was Caryn's simple response.

"Not even 'sugar cube'?"

"No."

"Not even 'dumpling'?"

"No, what is it with you and sweets?"

"Not even 'Panda'?"

"Hmmm," Caryn looked in thought before smirking, "Maybe~."

"What about 'Sex Bomb' or 'Bomb Shell'?"

"Deal!" Caryn smirked more deviously.

"Yata!" I shouted with a happy smile.

"Sorry to break up the fun, but we gotta get going," Yuri said towards me sweat dropping.

"Ok, okay, but first…" I said as I rummaged through my bag and pulled out the Defensol D and some Nyquil with Vicks, "It's got the direction still attached, give her some of these at the times if her fever won't go down with one dose. Oh, and if time flies and it still isn't better give her the Nyquil."

"Geez, you got everything, don't you? How'd you bring them over? I don't recall you having these before the lightning flash…" Caryn said surprised at the two medicine bottles.

"You got a bag right? It should be like a mini portal to your house, you can't jump in it though…and even if you could, time is frozen on the other side…and I wouldn't know about how to portal back if you managed to get through," I mentioned.

At that Caryn quickly rummaged under her bed to pull out a bag, stare into it, and gape in surprise, "Why does no one tell us these things from the start?!"

"Right?" I said smirking, until I felt Yuri nudge me, indicating, it was time to go, "Well, we gotta run."

"Okay, come back soon, I charge 100 gald an hour for babysitting," Caryn said playfully towards us.

"What happened to 'out of the goodness of your heart'?" Yuri sweat dropped.

"Yeah! 100 gald is a rip off here, the rooms are like 300 gald a night!...Which in USD is ridiculously cheap, even the homeless could sleep here, but it's Expensive here!" I said still playing.

"Geez, I'm kidding, I'm kidding," Caryn chuckled out, "Just come back with all limbs attached."

"Gotcha, we'll be back," Yuri said as he turned to leave the room, with me quickly following him after waving at Caryn.

When we got to the inn entrance, Flynn was already entering, guess he was done talking to Estelle. Yuri just ignored him and Flynn silently passed him, seriously these two made me so tense. I just waltzed by Flynn too, almost expecting him to grab me and say 'You're under arrest', but I stuck to Yuri's back like glue until we were outside where the umbrellas needed space.

The group just nodded as we all came together and began heading out of town, we faced some Green Ropers, Thiefs, and Sorceresses, but nothing too bad, we were getting stronger…though if only I could utilize aer into my weapon like Kairi….oh well…

I wasn't too worried about Rhybgaro, it was one of the more easiest bosses to face compared to others. We stopped in the middle of the road as it stopped raining.

"The rain's letting up," Yuri said looking at the sky.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious…" I pouted as this was taking so long.

"But it's still so gloomy…" Estelle said sadly.

"Yeah, I can't see the sun at all," Karol said as his eyes skimmed the sky.

"Whether it's raining or sunny doesn't much affect our adventure , anyway," Yuri said bluntly.

"I'm not 100% with you there Yuri…" I stated.

"Liana's right! Different monsters come out in different weather," Karol explained as he wagged his finger in his 'you should know this' kinda way, "There are monsters who can't stand water, and others that love it. Monsters have a large effect on what we do, don't you think?"

"…I was going to state the possible harmful effects too much rain and no sun could have on the environment…but that too," I threw in.

"Karol, it's so nice to have a member of the Hunting Blades with us who knows about these things," Estelle praised him.

"Well, regardless, we're going to have to keep walking in the rain," Yuri said remembering Rhybgaro only likes rain.

"Not necessarily. The weather might be different in the morning," Rita threw in.

"Yeah, maybe so. The best cure for a gloomy day like this is sleeping it away, nice and cozy," Karol said.

"Amen to that~ but we got an objective to clear now," I reminded.

"…But tomorrow could be just as cloudy and dismal as today," Rita said, now messing with the tiny guild boy.

"Way to rain on my parade…" Karol fussed at Rita and Me.

"But rainy days aren't always so bad!" Estelle spoke up in a loud voice, "They say all sorts of special things happen on rainy days that don't happen when it's sunny."

"Is that something else that you read in your books? Is that true…?" Karol asked looking bored.

"I don't believe books. Never been true for me…" I threw my experience in.

"…That's what they say," Estelle said weakly, having nothing to support her claim.

"Well, for now we'll just have to get some sleep and wait for the sky to clear up," Yuri said looking at the sky.

"Tomorrow might be just as rainy as today!" Rita said, still messing with us.

Karol caught on to Rita's game quickly though, "Rita… You're pretty mean, you know that?"

I tilted my head to the side in confusion, "Aren't we supposed to be waiting for it to rain to catch Rhybgaro though?"

Everyone looked at me in surprise…seriously? "Oh… Right," Karol said sweat dropping as we all took a break and continued on when the rain came.

* * *

-*-Caryn-*-

Yuri: So, Caryn's another Earth friend of yours?

Liana: Yup.

Karol: She's pretty weird, she said she didn't like Estelle cause she was pink.

Estelle: *pouty*

Liana: Yeah, Caryn's not fond of the color pink…long story, don't ask.

Rita: She's about what I expected for a friend of yours, she's a weirdo like you.

Liana: *smirks* Why thank you for the compliment~

Yuri: Well in any case, it looks like she gets along well with Flynn. She's in good hands.

Liana: And I'm the only one that doubts that….

* * *

-*- Search and Seizure Rights -*-

Estelle: Hey Rita, what did Flynn mean about search and seizure rights to blastia laboratories?

Liana: Huh? …They have those rights here? Could've fooled me with how bad the law appears to be…

Rita: Oh, that. Basically , if you're on an official imperial blastia investigation, you can go anywhere you want.

Yuri: Are you serious?!

Karol: Why bust our butts when the Knights can do that?

Rita: I don't think they can. There are plenty of 'exceptions' that can block their authority.

Yuri: That sounds like what I've come to expect from the empire.

Liana: Seriously… You had me concerned there… I knew there had to be a catch… an 'Empire' isn't so flexible or caring…

* * *

-*-Kairi's illness-*-

Karol: I'm surprised Kairi ended up getting worse rather than better. Yuri got back on his feet in no time.

Liana: Hmmm… I wonder why…

Estelle: Well, she's with Flynn and Caryn right now, so she should be fine.

Rita: Yeah, though the knights might be too busy to look after her.

Yuri: Well Caryn gave us her word that she'd look after her, so we can rest easy.

Liana: !

Yuri: Hm? What is it? You think of something?

Liana: No, nothing, sorry. I just felt a chill from the cold is all.

Karol: Yeah, being out in the rain isn't any fun even with an umbrella.

Liana: …*mutters* You didn't wish for him to get better….you took the cold from him…didn't you….and I told you not to stay up too late… but I bet you didn't listen though …

Yuri: ?

* * *

As we came upon the familiar clearing, there was the golden unicorn horse deer thingy known as Rhybgaro. It was huge, but that wasn't what caught my attention…

It whined and neighed loudly as everyone prepared to face it, Karol gave us the confirmation line, "This is Rhybgaro!"

It reared back on it's hind legs and everyone sprung into action, my brain farting…thinking of fighting it and protecting it…

I couldn't fight this thing….not that I hadn't grown strong myself, but I had a weakness….and that weakness came with a question…WHY THE FUCK WAS IT PREGNANT?!

* * *

OMG I got it done….I got like 3 to 4 drabbles to write to explain what happened when Liana left and Kairi's POVs with more Caryn (You got more screen time than Justin, be happy bitch!) and the 2 extra drabbles… heck that maybe 5 or 6 drabbles to do before I can move into the next chapter so those who are confused can get some light…..until those drabbles get up, A LOT of people are gonna be confused.

Caryn: Your right, I do want to murder you for those Estelle x Flynn things….

Spare me O' Krityan one!

Justin: She doesn't even have the antenna things?! How is she a Krityan?

She's half I guess…I mean Half Elves are a deal in Tales of Series…

Caryn: Cause I'm awesome :D

Though these teachers don't make it easy for me…I got reports, papers, and lesson plans to write up the wazoo…Even tomorrow I got a class from the early afternoon to night ;w; I pray for the swift arrival of Summer to relax….maybe…

Justin: Don't we all…

I put in so many references to games and animes in this one chapter, it's nuts lolz

Justin: Yeah, like we needed you to show us you're crazy already.

Caryn: But I'm still gonna murder you for the Flynn x Estelle and getting pissed at Flynn part! How dare you shout at my BAE!

I REGRET NOTHING!

Next time: Rhybgaro and Ragou's Mansion yayz….


	16. 15: The Sadistic Old Fart

Last time, on Dragon Ball Z…. yeah this ain't DBZ and I ain't ever gonna fill this top part with a recap :P

Please remember, ( ) parenthesis are MY thoughts, _italics are telepathic talk between me and Kairi_

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Tales of Vesperia, Justin, or Caryn. I DO have permission to use Justin and Caryn though. I OWN myself, Kairi, and my work in this fic. That is all….

* * *

I fidgeted uneasily as the others fought Rhybgaro… well I wouldn't say this was a fight, so why was everyone trying so hard?

"Fang Strike!" Yuri slashed down and uppercut the Rhybgaro in the chest pretty hard.

"Fireball!" Rita cast while Karol beat it quite a bit after the balls of fire hit it, sending it flying back a bit.

"Pow Hammer!" Estelle casted, sending a rain of hammers on it.

It was already having so much trouble getting up, why were they wailing on it so much? Did they not see it's pregnant? Or do they not care since it's just some 'monster'? They probably think it's just fat, damn, I know we need to defeat it to get its horn, but this is enough…right?

Once it hit the floor and wasn't getting up again, I couldn't sit back any more. I had a sick, long-haired brunette conscience who would do the same thing I was about to do now too.

Rita began to cast and I charged at it, as fast as I could. Part of me was saying I was an idiot, but the other half was shouting…please don't cast fireball again!

"Splash!" Rita shouted, oh thank goodness!

I heard Yuri, Estelle, and Karol shouting things at me, but adrenaline wasn't letting me hear right as I leaped and jumped over Rhybgaro's belly to shield it from the oncoming waterfall that descended upon us. It didn't seem like a bad spell to be hit with, just some water…wrong! This was like being hit with a pressured hose from above! The pain was ripping through my body, but I kept my place, I held my breath, praying the water flow would stop soon. The amount of pressure crushing me was making holding my breath harder, until it was all over, and I gasped and coughed for breath, still not budging.

"Just what the hell are you doing?!" Yuri shouted angrily at me.

I coughed a bit, raising my hand to motion to wait for my response to get some air. Rhybgaro wasn't moving, and I kinda panicked a bit, but suddenly, seeing her breathe made me sigh in relief, and the feel of the baby moving around in her belly under my head and hands soothed me right down, enough to answer, "Pulling a Kairi."

"Huh? Are you crazy or something?! What if I had casted a fireball?!" Rita argued sharply.

"I'll be fried to a crisp, thank you for spell variety," I joked a bit weakly, I had my air back, but now my body was aching from head to toe.

"That still doesn't answer, what you were doing," Yuri said seriously.

I sighed, this guy didn't get it yet, "It's enough, right? She can't move, there's no need for fighting anymore, lets just take her horn, leave her alone, and go. The horn is what they want, right?"

"Huh? But we need to take it back with us," Karol argued with a pout.

I gave baby boy a serious look, "In that case, you guys need to do that over my dead body."

"Why?" Estelle asked surprisingly, still not noticing the state this Rhybgaro was in.

I weakly began to get up, my legs wobbling due to feeling like jelly, kinda sad to not feel the baby anymore but, I needed to teach these guys a lesson, "She's pregnant and injured you assholes; so no one is taking her back to that place, you hear me. No one takes her without fighting me first…"

I got into my usual fighting stance, "So…we gonna do this the easy way… or the hard way?" I grunt a bit at the pain I was feeling to just be on my feet, but I wasn't gonna back off either.

"I-It's covered in scars and bruises," Estelle finally stated in surprise, taking in the Rhybgaro's damage.

"I reckon it's been attacked by desperate townspeople quite a few times…" Yuri said looking at it.

Estelle turned to him with a pout, "B-But it's not the people in town's fault!"

"No, I understand," Yuri replied before walking up to me.

I gave him a bit of a harsh stare that said, 'you better only take her horn'. And with a smile and a pat on my head, he knelt and broke off her horn.

"Yuri…?" Estelle asked curiously, wondering what he was doing, and why I wasn't stopping him.

"The horn is what's so valuable, right?" Yuri stated turning to me, "This'll be enough to satisfy that money-grubbing magistrate."

Rita looked at Yuri and me weirdly, "Wow, it's not like you both to show pity to a monster."

I felt a ring of relief on my body, it seems Estelle was healing me, but I raised my hand at her to let her know it was enough, that the aches weren't so bad anymore. I didn't want her flooding me with her power and causing Judy to come flying over here early.

"If I was a mother-to-be, I'd be pretty scared to be attacked day after day," I stated my own point of view in the Rhybgaro's stead, "Of course I'd fight to give me and my baby a chance, though I'd be wondering, just what did I do to make so many people come after me? So it doesn't seem fair, and there's no way I'm gonna play by someone so evil's rules."

Karol looked freaked out and grabbed his weapon, "While you guys are busy talking, the monster's getting up!"

"Baby boy, I love you, but strike at her, and I'mma chop you and let Rita chop you all the way back to the inn," I gave him that 'Mama mean's business' look. He flinched a bit away at my gaze, hey, I can be tough love at times.

The Rhybgaro got up and stared around at us, but looked to me for a while, before running off into the forest.

"Wh-what? Why did it run away?" Karol said surprised.

Estelle clasped her hands in happiness, "It understood what we were thinking!"

"I wish Kairi was here…she might have been able to verify that…I think," I said curiously as I watched it flee.

"The monster did? Seriously?" Karol looked skeptical.

I pouted, "Well it has a brain and a heart. They have young and care and protect them. They breathe the air we breathe and walk the land we walk. Is it so much different that us in that case? We can't talk to them, they can't talk to us, but in each other's eyes, if we were to ask what we are to them, they'd say we're the monsters."

"I don't think monsters think at all though," Rita said plainly.

"I can't prove that they do, but they adapt and learn of new ways to catch prey and teach their young the new ways and old ways, so I'd believe that they do," I nodded, "It's just a stereotype people put to things. Because the only people who are 'people' to people, are the 'people' who look and think like them, any different and you're just an unwanted, unwelcome hindrance."

"That's….actually pretty philosophical," Rita said looking at me in awe.

"Take me for example, I'm an alien, you all didn't know I was an alien until I felt it was okay to tell you. Though if I were to have told you off the bat or someone would have said so, what would you have thought?" I asked as I looked at Karol and Rita, I was teaching the kids a lesson via Pocahontas and other means, haha.

The two couldn't respond, so I spoke up, "Rita wouldn't believe it without proof, so that wouldn't have changed, but to Karol…let me guess… kill on sight?"

"H-Huh?! What? I wouldn't, I wasn't," Karol said with a surprised look on his face, but then he looked in thought, "Actually… I don't think I'd have killed you… attack maybe, but…you aren't…"

"That's what's called stereotype, you get the image in your head that 'monsters don't think', 'monsters don't care', 'aliens are usually green monsters with three fingers who need to be destroyed before they take over the planet', those kinda things," I pouted, "So rather than trying to find grounds for peace, it's easier to just get rid of or not pay attention to what's different. The reason you didn't attack me or Kairi was because you got to know us. Though, that's not to say that all monsters or aliens are good…just observe a bit more before jumping to conclusions."

The two children gazed in awe at my wisdom, Estelle nodding at the lecture, while Yuri had that smug awkward smile spread across his face.

"Well, hey, we got the horn. The monster can go live with her baby in peace and quiet. Let's head back to check on Kairi and Flynn," Yuri said with a chuckle at my long-winded lecture.

And with that we returned to Nor Harbor, I continually couldn't stop humming The Lost Ones Weeping the entire way.

* * *

-*- Still not gonna say -*-

Estelle: Wow Liana, that lecture you gave back there was very insightful! I never would have thought of that perspective.

Liana: I honestly don't think anyone can…*humming*

Rita: It… It wasn't that interesting.

Karol: Huh? Though it did get me to thinking.

Liana: *humming*

Yuri: How long are you going to keep humming the same exact thing?

Estelle: Isn't that the song we heard back before Ehmead? Your favorite song, uhm, The Lost Ones Weeping?

Liana: *hum* Huh? Oh, yeah it's that one.

Karol: Boy, you weren't kidding on it being your favorite.

Rita: So, what's it about anyways?

Liana: Still not gonna say *winks and hums again*

Estelle: *pouts*

* * *

Once we entered back into the 'town's circle' as I called it, we had our familiar scene with Teagle and his wife Kellas.

"Wait! You can't go out again after that girl went through the trouble of healing your wounds!" Kellas shouted dramatically at Teagle as he walked up towards us, almost bumping into Yuri due to not looking up. Though he managed to stop himself a good 4 feet from Yuri.

"Where are you off to with that dangerous weapon?" Yuri asked curiously.

Teagle looked down, avoiding eye contact with Yuri, "That's no business of yours. I can't have you sticking your nose into my affairs just because you're curious!"

I almost wanted to argue 'and here we brought you a present', but I kept my mouth shut as Yuri tossed the horn at Teagle's feet.

"Th-This is…?!" Teagle said in shock.

Yuri gave a smirk, "Sorry for stealing your thunder back at the inn. Maybe this'll make it up to you."

And with that he began to walk towards the inn, the couple both on the ground in disbelief and deeply bowing, speaking in unison, "Th-thank you so much!"

"Oh, and don't forget to tell the people that the Rhybgaro is slain, so they won't go risking themselves outside the barrier with other monsters to try to find it, it's dead and gone now," I remarked.

"Y-Yes, we'll let them know!" The woman said gratefully.

"Huh? But we-" I held out my hand to silence Karol before he'd give away that it was still alive.

"Well, let's get to the inn, Kairi's probably lonely right now," I used a dramatic voice to proclaim as I began to walk towards the inn, the other's following.

Yuri was waiting for us, in front of the inn, Karol ran over and began to argue, "H-Hold on! You're just giving it to them?"

Yuri didn't turn towards him when he responded, "It's a small price to pay if it saves their child's life."

"You were planning on doing this from the beginning, weren't you?" Estelle asked curiously, but her tone becoming so soft at the mere thought.

"Nope, it just came to me," Yuri said waving his hand, still not turning towards us. I wonder what expression he was wearing right now.

Rita crossed her arms and argued, "You do realize that you just gave away our gift for the magistrate, right? Now what'll we do?"

"No worries, we'll just find some other way to get into the magistrate's place," Yuri turned to us with his trademark smirk.

I smirked too, "Ooo, preferably something illegal! I was dying to beat those guards at the gate for being so damn cocky without a cock to back it up!"

Yuri's eyes went wide and his smirk turned to an awkward open mouth, realizing it was too late to silence me on that. Rita looked offended and Karol was red, Repede didn't care, and Estelle that everyone was worried about…

"W-Wh….What are you….s-saying, th-that's so dis…" Rita was trying to stutter out, but Estelle cut in.

"Uhm, I don't get what's going on, or why everyone seems so startled, but, shall we see how Flynn's doing first, then?" Estelle spoke normally, albeit a bit curiously.

"Yes, maybe he's even gotten into Ragou's palace already and set things straight!" Karol shouted, voting for the least violent option. Pooh.

"Yeah, that would sure be nice…" Yuri said in an awkward tone, still trying to get my quote out of his head.

"You fuddy duddies are no fun," I pouted and crossed my arms.

"Let's go pay a visit to the inn," Estelle said happily.

I sweat dropped at her and gave her an 'are you stupid' look, "Uh…we're in front of the inn already…what do you mean pay a visit to it? We're technically here…"

Estelle blushed a dark red as she turned her head and realized it was true, "Oh, we are. Well, let's all go inside."

"Amen, I need to change out of these soaked soppy clothes too," I chimed as we went into the warm inn.

* * *

-*- Yuri's Worry -*-

Yuri: I guess the Empire likes to throw its weight around no matter where you go.

Liana: Like I always say…it's an Empire…what do you expect?

Yuri: I guess. Before I left the capital, I didn't know -or care—about anything besides the lower quarter…

Repede: *…Whine*

Karol: It's not everywhere, but I feel like the Empire's influence is especially strong on Ilyccia. They can do whatever they want since there aren't any major guilds on Ilyccia.

Yuri: We can't let it stay this way…

Repede: *Woof*

Liana: *giggles*

* * *

-*- Ilyccia~ -*-

Liana: *giggles*

Yuri: Huh? You've been laughing since earlier, what's so funny?

Liana: Ilyccia…

Yuri: ?

Liana: It sounds like, "I'll licky ya" fufufu?.

Yuri: ! That's what you're laughing at?

Liana: If you don't like it, Ilyccia~

Yuri: *sweat drops* Great, just what she needed, some new puns…

Liana: Hey, it's better than a Den of Ebola~

* * *

We entered into Flynn's room to check on Kairi first and check on Flynn's progress, my clothes dripped on the floor, and I knew Flynn was gonna be pissed….which is why I was supportive of not changing first! I could be mean.

"You're looking chipper as always, Flynn," Yuri teased seeing the scowl on Flynn's face as he walked over beside Caryn who was sitting on the bed next to Kairi changing her towel.

"I've got a lot on my mind, Yuri. Not that you'd know what that's like," Flynn argued back.

"Hmph…," Yuri scoffed at the response.

"Manage to go out and get your bounty raised even higher?" Flynn argued back.

"Oh, no, but that would've been awesome!" I replied slightly sarcastically, earning a glare from Flynn. Yuri just rolled his eyes at Flynn, we had no time for fighting now.

"So, Caryn, how's Kairi doing?" I asked first before Flynn could open his mouth again or have Yuri chime in.

"Not any better, but at least not any worse," was her response as she rang out the towel in the bowl of water, her expression telling me there was a bit more she wasn't saying.

Kairi's breathing was labored by now, her face so flushed I thought her head was a giant tomato rather than her head. Puffs of steam were practically coming from her mouth, and around her like it does in anime, that made me wonder what the others were thinking of looking at her like this. It certainly shouldn't be normal to be breathing out steam… but I had made Kairi a Mary-sue once upon a dream. But now, her once available ability was now out of her control, and one thing that remained from those times… was her beyond average temperature when she got feverish… that may be what Caryn's hiding…

"I thought you went to the magistrate's place," Yuri asked curiously, wondering just why things hadn't changed.

Flynn looked a bit serious, "I went. Along with a search warrant from the blastia research lab."

"Ah, so you were able to go inside and look around," Yuri said a bit more confidently.

"Nope… The magistrate refused us entry," Flynn said a bit upset.

Everyone looked shocked, of course except for me and Caryn, we knew how sick Ragou was, and we knew he was gonna do this.

"Why?!" Karol asked in disbelief that the knight's authority was just… dissed like that.

Witcher turned to our group with a serious look, "He even tried to provoke us. 'If you really think I have a blastia, try to bust your way in,' he said."

Sodia looked upset, "He knows we don't have the jurisdiction to do that-he's just making a mockery of us!"

"Well, isn't he right?" Yuri said normally, he wasn't kidding, some people just focus on laws too much… look where it gets them…

"What did you say?!" Sodia shouted angry heading up to Yuri, Witcher blocking her from going any forward.

Kairi's sudden moaning at the loud shout made us turn our attention to her, as she stirred a bit, but didn't wake. Once she settled, her breathing went back to being labored, the towel falling off her forehead.

Caryn moved a bit away to avoid the towel falling on her hands, and she began to ring out another towel giving Sodia a glare, "3 words…. Anger Management Classes."

"What?!" Sodia said angrily at Caryn now, seriously… someone put a cap up her ass and lock her in a trunk somewhere and just forget about her existence.

"Anger Management Classes, Bitch! Do you take them?" I asked in a serious tone, earning a glare from her too. Though Flynn gave her a stern look as if to remind her that we're 'civilians', and she turned away from us and walked away to avoid possibly getting into a fight with us any further.

"Liana, Yuri, whose side are you on?" Karol asked us with an odd look on his face as though he was processing his very choice to join us.

"It's not a matter of whose side I'm on. If you think you're right, you should force your way inside," Yuri said easily to Flynn.

"There's a good Terry Pratchett line in one of his books that goes pretty good along with this," I said in thought.

"Oh, Terry Pratchett's books are really good!" Caryn said clapping her hands, she knew what I was about to say.

"Since I can't recall the actual book, therefore I can't cite the source, I'll just make reference to it, while maintaining the original quote," I said with my hand on my chin just like Rokurou does when he's in thought mode in his skits.

I then placed my left hand on my hip and pointed at Flynn with my right arm extended out at him, index finger locked onto his nose, "Listen and recall this well! 'You start getting worried about thoughts of what's legal and Illegal, and soon you won't have any thoughts of whether it's right or wrong!'"

Flynn looked a bit taken back, but began to shake his head, "No, it's a trap."

I stiffened up to resist the urge but…

"It's a trap!" Caryn shouted in a weird deep voice, trying to impersonate Admiral Ackbar.

Everyone turned to look at her oddly while I silently was laughing my ass off.

She turned a bright red and shied away, "What… I couldn't help it."

"I know… I know… I had a hard time restraining myself too," I managed to get out before I began to giggle a bit, earning odd looks, "Don't even ask," was my response to their gazes.

Flynn broke out of his odd looks with a shake of his head again and returned to his dialogue, "Ragou wants the Imperial Guard to make a mistake so he can use it as an excuse to increase the authority of the Council. If we go in now, he'll hide the evidence and feign innocence."

"Is Magistrate Ragou on the Council as well?" Estelle asked curiously.

Flynn nodded to her, "Yes. The Imperial Knights and the Council are both essential organizations that support the empire. But Ragou seems to have forgotten this fact."

"So in short, we're not dealing with your everyday magistrate here. Well, have you got a plan for what you're doing next?" Yuri asked curious as to his friend's next move, but…

"…," Flynn looked a bit sour, he probably knew there was only 'one' plan and didn't want to say it or hint at it, cause he knew Yuri would go along with it.

"What, you're out of ideas?" Yuri said surprised and disappointed that his friend didn't seem to have a plan.

It was Witcher who threw out the idea, "… If there were some sort of disturbance inside the palace, the Imperial Knights would be able to move in under the pretense of emergency prerogative."

"Ah yes… 'The Imperial Knights may employ emergency prerogative to intervene in emergency situations, regardless of jurisdiction'," Estelle explained in her usual manner. Head up high, eyes closed, tone like a telephone operator giving info, it was kinda annoying to watch and hear… scratch that… it IS annoying to watch and hear.

"cough, cough," Caryn coughed, but I could've sworn she muttered something and was covering it up with a cough.

Flynn looked a bit worried, I wondered if it was because of the smirk that appeared on Yuri's face, or that Caryn seemed sick… dunno maybe both.

"Of course!" Yuri said devilishly with a smirk, "So if a thief snuck in and caused a ruckus that'd be enough?"

"Oooo, sounds like my kinda fun," I smirked in response, making Flynn look more worried.

"Yuri, I know you want to help, but…" Flynn really didn't want him doing this, but he knew it needs to happen.

"…But I shouldn't do anything reckless, right?" Yuri finished his sentence for him before walking towards the door.

"I'm going to go patrol the town. I've just received a tip that tomorrow some fugitives with a warrant out for their arrest are going to try to get into the magistrate's palace," Flynn said formally to Witcher and Sodia, who nodded, understanding what Flynn meant.

I raised an eyebrow at the word tomorrow. Hearing Kairi's murmurs made me blink a few times… Ah, Flynn must be waiting for Kairi to be well or for us to be rested to try this tomorrow… but Pauly… Lord please don't let him be down there right now! I was growing uneasy and Caryn could see it.

"Oh, right," Yuri said as he turned back and walked over to Caryn, "We'll take her off your hands, thanks for watching her."

"O-Oh, it was nothing, but uhm…," Caryn was fidgeting nervously as Yuri reached to pick up Kairi and quickly drew his hand away with a yelp of pain as his hands made contact with her skin.

Kairi murmured again before shuffling to the other side. Yuri's eyes were wide staring at her, "What the hell. Her skins so hot, I can't pick her up."

Rita walked over now and put her hand on Kairi's forehead and withdrew her hand at once, "Ah! Just what is going on?" And like that, Kairi became Rita's new favorite toy again and she began pulling up those computer things and analyzing her.

"I can't say when it happened, but her temperature's been rising for a while now. We've tried just about everything to get it to go down, but…" Flynn said as worry laced his tone just as it had when he and Yuri tended to a sick puppy Repede.

"It's amazing," Rita said in awe, "Her temperature is so high that her organs and brain should be liquified by now, but they're still solid and functioning perfectly."

"L-Liquified!" Karol said with a squeak and put on a fearful face at the thoughts that filled his head.

Witcher stepped forward to see the data on the screens, curiosity in his eyes, "Whoa, you weren't kidding. That's beyond fatal, her bones, tissue, and organs should be melting, blood should be boiling, heck, her eyeballs should have popped a while ago, but their temperature is somehow staying at stable levels… so where's the heat being stored and what's keeping it from doing what it does? This is both bizarre and amazing."

Estelle looked extremely worried by now at the thought of her new friend dying, "I-Isn't there something we can do?"

"Estelle, can you try to heal her?" Rita asked curiously, probably wondering if Estelle's powers could heal her up.

She nodded, ran over and complied. With her hands clasped, a magical ring, a ching sound, she tried to heal up Kairi, but nothing seemed to change.

"Hm, nothing. Liana, do you know what's going on with her?" Rita asked giving me a 'you better not be holding out on me right now' look.

"A fever," I replied normally, "Don't ask me, that's a norm for her, she's just the biggest oddball on…in our house…," I stopped myself from saying 'planet' due to Witcher and Sodia being here.

"Oddball is an understatement," Rita said with a 'you gotta be kidding face'.

"Mmmm," Kairi stirred and rubber her eyes, Witcher actually threw out his hands to want to stop her from rubbing them, but Rita stopped him due to he'd be burned.

"Kairi?" Yuri asked concerned as he looked down at the red girl in bed.

She turned her head towards Yuri's voice and blinked at him a few times, her eyes were beyond foggy and hazy, her voice raspy and congested, "Mmm…Daddy?"

I kinda giggled a bit at that before returning to my concerned look, Yuri's hair was dark, yes, but Zane's hair was as black at night, her eyes must really be bad by now.

"No, that's Yuri," I told her to correct her as she began to focus on Yuri.

"…Yuri…" Kairi seemed to repeat, her voice hoarse and cracked. Tears began to come down her face, the water boiled and fizzled down her cheek, turning into steam before it could even drip off her face.

"Whoa! Calm down, it's okay, I'm here," Yuri said panicked as she began to cry.

"…Daddy… I want my… *Sniff*… Daddy," she cried into her pillow, her hand picking up the blanket to cover herself more as she wailed for her father.

"… Oh lord, don't tell me she's reverted back to childhood," I said with wide eyes as she continued to cry for her father… if this kept up, then in any minute Mr. Universe himself will be here, and that can go good… or bad.

"What?!" Karol yelped in shock at the idea.

"It's a possibility, the heat might be frying her brain already," Rita said, "though not the physical kind of frying."

"Is there anything we can do?" Flynn asked Rita and Witcher seriously.

"No, there's nothing I can think of, this is too weird," Witcher answered still looking at the data.

Rita still looked in thought, "I'll analyze her some more and try to see if I can find anything. We'll have to move her back to our room somehow though…"

"Why not Purrito her using the blanket?" I asked, after all, the bed isn't being burned, so wrapping her up and carrying her shouldn't be bad.

"Purrito?" Estelle asked oddly.

"Like swaddling a baby, I just call it a Purrito, got a problem with it?" I argued at the pink princess who shook her head for no. (Hey, I love the Kitten Lady~)

"Alright then," Yuri said cracking his knuckles as he accepted the challenge of wrapping her up without being burnt severely.

Somehow, he was successful, and we all bid Flynn and Caryn a good afternoon before heading into our room, Yuri of course left to pay for the room for one more night.

* * *

Kairi still sniffled and sobbed until she slept again, and I found myself sighing. If she doesn't get better, then what do we do? I could ask Flynn and Caryn to take her with them on their boat when they come to chase us…I'll let Caryn know… scratch Flynn as he'll want to ask how I knew we were gonna be on boats…

Also… if her father does come, the thoughts began to pour into my head…

* * *

Zane: What is the meaning of this?

Everyone: Huh? Who're you?

Zane: I am this woman's father, how dare you put her through such unpleasantries, you mortals!

Liana: Uh, Zane, they're not to blame, it's uh…

Zane: Silence, you are contradicting this timeline, I shall return you and your companions back to Earth, and this world shall meet it's end for harming my daughter.

Liana: Whoa, wai-!

[Somehow we all poof back home like nothing ever happened]

[Zane leaves with Kairi and then a space view of Terca Lumireis exploding comes into view]

* * *

I felt myself sweat drop, that seemed like a possibility, though I know I made Zane a bit more… how to say, mature than that, still… can't deny he may decide to destroy the damn planet… and Kairi won't like that… but trying to imagine a friendly conversation with Tea and Cookies…. was not available, I made him as stubborn and charismatic as Gaius, and as enigmatic as Duke… hell, Duke was actually a model for him when I made Zane to give Kairi a family.

I felt myself yawn as we watched Rita analyze the heck out of Kairi, still not coming any closer to a conclusion or solution, not like she can… I doubt she'll be jumping up from her chair going, 'She's a demigod!' anytime soon… or at all.

"Anything, Rita?" Estelle asked worried as the mage just kept focusing on the readings and scans.

"Nothing. As tough as this is to say, I can't figure it out, you aliens sure are weird," Rita crossed her arms and pouted.

I laid back on bed yawning, "Amen…"

"Huh? You're going to sleep? Aren't you worried about, Kairi?!" Karol asked a bit surprised and upset that I was 'ignoring' Kairi.

"Nope, she'll be fine, it happens from time to time, she's so much of an oddball that she might be 100% tomorrow," I replied tiredly as another yawn came out. I was dead by now, I had a good meal and a good bath after we got back into our room, I couldn't keep from wanting to pass out.

"Oddball, huh?" Yuri said curiously and in thought, though I didn't care too much right now, I just wanted to sleep. And sure enough I did.

* * *

I sawed logs for a good while, until an alarm clock woke us ALL up.

"AAAH!" Estelle screamed loudly, or at least it sounded like Estelle.

"WHAT?! I DIDN'T EAT ALL THE PIZZA, I SWEAR!" I shouted as I woke up with eyes wide awake.

Wh-Wha?! WAH!" Karol shouted as he rolled off the bed in a panic.

Rita jolted up preparing a fireball, until Karol scrambled from the floor to jump on her arm to stop her from casting and setting us all on fire.

"What happened?!" Yuri shouted as he apparently woke up, set to fight something or someone.

Estelle was just backed up near her dresser by her bed, one hand steadying herself on the dresser, the other covering her mouth with her eyes wide and fearful. She shakily pointed to Kairi who was still fast asleep… not stirring for the world. As was Repede at the foot of her bed, you'd think he'd wake up at that scream.

"T-There was a man right next to Kairi! I saw him! He had such scary red eyes, and long black hair, and, and-" Estelle began to rant in a terrified panic, making us all give her odd looks.

Well, not me… red eyes, beside Kairi, black hair… that was Zane, no question. He was no threat to Kairi… can't say if he was a threat to the rest of the group, but at least not to Kairi. He must've put Repede into a deep sleep to avoid him waking everyone with barks or growls but didn't count on Estelle waking up.

Suddenly the door to the room burst open causing us all to jump and shout.

"Lady Estellise! What's the matter?!" Flynn asked as Sodia followed behind him, sword ready, and Caryn yawning and rubbing her eyes behind them.

"There was a man in our room! And, and he was next to Kairi, and," Estelle began to rant in a panic.

"L-Lady Estellise, please, if you could calm down and describe him, slowly. I'll send a team to patrol around for this man," Flynn said seriously but at the same time sweetly to calm her down as he began to wait on her description.

"H-He had long pitch black hair," Estelle began as she calmed herself down.

"Alright, anything else?" Flynn continued, slowly coaxing her calmly.

"His eyes were so red, he looked at me so coldly I got the chills, he looked really scary, and his eyes were seemingly glowing in the dark," Estelle said as she shivered at the memory.

"Anything about his clothes?" Flynn asked curiously, now wondering just who could have eyes that glow in the dark.

"Uhm, they were mainly black, with some red and gold, the gold looked so shiny, I'm not sure if it's real or not," Estelle said trying hard to recall any specific details, and failing, "I'm sorry… other than his large black wings, I don't recall specifically what he was wearing."

At that Flynn looked at her oddly, "Uhm, large black wings?"

"Estelle, are you sure you weren't just half asleep seeing things?" Yuri said skeptically.

"No! I woke up to get some water and when I got up out of bed I saw him! He was next to Kairi, talking to her, then he looked at me, and then when I blinked, he was gone…" Estelle spoke up in a pout until she began to get more silent now at the thought that it could have been a dream.

"In a blink he was gone, Estelle, no one can come and go that fast. It must've been a dream," Yuri said to assure her that it was a dream.

"Though if it'll help Lady Estellise, I'll send a team right now to patrol just to be sure," Flynn said with a bow and excused himself to get the patrol set.

Estelle looked sad as Flynn closed the door, "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cause so much trouble… but I…"

"Maybe you weren't seeing things," I piped up, to 'cheer' her up… well…

"Huh?" Estelle said turning to me with a curious look, as did everyone else.

"Maybe it was a ghost, that was once an angel, that fell from grace, and wanted to talk to someone. And Kairi is just about medium like material to do it, so it wanted to talk to her, but she's too sick to respond. I mean back at Ehmead Hill-," I began to drone with sparkles in my eyes just as Rita screeched.

"No way! There's no way it was a ghost! Estellise was just half asleep! That's the only logical thing!" She shouted threateningly.

"Geez, Rita. You don't have to be that scared," Karol said normally, he immediately covered his head when Rita looked about to chop him. Though she didn't due to my flaring glare that said, 'chop him and you'll be joining ghosts!'

"Well, in any case, let's head back to bed, it's still way too early to go on with the plan. Okay?" Yuri spoke up, and everyone obeyed, despite Estelle being a bit shaky.

Though as I climbed into bed, I couldn't ignore the odd look Yuri was giving me as I covered myself to sleep. Darn ninja…

* * *

I awoke to Yuri's shake and call, it was time to start the plan. I yawned but slapped my cheeks with both hands to wake up. I turned to Kairi who was still asleep, was she better now after her father's visit, or not?

Yuri walked over and gently shook her via the blanket, he was probably being cautious to not get burnt again, but he spoke softly, "Kairi, hey. How're you feeling?"

She yawned and stretched in bed as a response, Yuri quickly getting away from her hands to avoid contact. She blinked a few times at Yuri as another yawn hit her, and her eyes cleared up as she blinked more and licked her lips a few times, "Mmmm, what? I want some pancakes and eggs." She rubbed her eyes more to get rid of the drowsiness, still yawning and slightly stretching as she sat herself up.

"Whoa, don't push yourself. How are you today?" Yuri said as she began to get up, his eyes curiously gazing on her.

"Hmm? I'm good, but I'm hungry…" she replied with a tiny pouting tone.

Yuri stepped forward and set his hand on her forehead, his eyes widening, "Huh, it's all gone. No fever or anything…"

"You're kidding!" Rita said quickly and loudly as she pushed Yuri aside to analyze her, her eyes curious, but widening as the weird numbers and stuff popped up on her screen, "How?! Her temperature's back to normal and there's no damage dealt either."

Kairi pouted a bit, her tummy rumbled as if in protest of being held up from breakfast.

I had to wonder what data Rita was seeing, but, we gotta get going…or else Pauly… if he hasn't been killed already… "I can go for some pancake and eggs, heck, just eggs will do, lets get this plan rolling~" I chirped cheerily as I hopped out of bed and headed to the bathroom to change my pamper.

Once out, everyone ate breakfast, informed Flynn, and we headed towards Ragou's palace to get this party started.

* * *

-*- The Sea Breeze -*-

Estelle: The breeze that blows in a port city makes everything feel so different. It smells like the sea…

Liana: Well, the ocean is right there you know… that it smells like the sea is no surprise…

Rita: Stand in the ocean wind too long and you'll get covered in salt, you know.

Estelle: …Thank you both for ruining my mood.

Liana: *smirk* You're VERY welcome~

Rita: Hey, feel free to get all sticky and gross! I won't stop you.

* * *

We hid behind the wall to the palace, everyone devising a plan to break in… patients, our ticket in will be here soon.

"This place seems to get bigger every time I look at it. Are members of the Council really that important?" Karol seemed to pout as he stared at the manor. Awww, my hate of authority is rubbing off on baby boy.

"'The Council is a body of nobles which aids in the political administration of the empire,'" Estelle replied in her high and mighty recital way.

I rolled my eyes at that as Rita responded, "Which means they basically represent the empire's interest."

"Huh, you don't say," Karol said with a sad tone, he was probably thinking what I was thinking just now.

"If 'this' is their interest, it's not funny at all, this is why I can't stand empires," I pouted angrily as Kairi sweat dropped.

"So what about getting inside?" Rita asked Yuri who was still gauging the situation.

"Shall we see if there's a back entrance?" Estelle suggested and asked at the same time.

"Tough luck. Place is surrounded by a wall, and there's no gettin' inside unless ya can clear it," a familiar voice spoke up. That there, was our way in… well sort of.

"…?!" Estelle was about to scream, but he took a step forward and put his finger to his lips to show her to be quiet.

"Ya won't last long if ya go screamin' in a spot like this, yer ladyship," the old man spoke up.

"I'm sorry, but who are you?" Estelle asked confused as to the old man's presence.

"Whaddya mean? Me and the kid and these two lovely young ladies are old friends, right pals?" he said a bit happily.

Everyone turned to look at Yuri and us, to which Yuri quickly turned away, "What are you looking at? I barely know this guy?"

"He sounds familiar, but I've never seen him," I spoke up, and Kairi kept quiet but looked at the 'old man' oddly.

"Now now, don't be like that. As I recall, one of you pretty ladies promised me a big hug," he winked in our direction and I paled (Shit I forgot about that…).

"That…was me… sorry, I hate to break promises, but it'll have to wait…," I replied nervously (I'd love to hug him… if only he wasn't going to stab us in the back now!).

The old man then decided to skip over us for a second to turn to Yuri, "And what about the fun times we had in jail, Mr. Yuri Lowell?"

That got Yuri's attention, he turned to the old man confused, "Huh? I don't remember telling you my name."

The old man waved the wanted posters in front of us, making everyone turn to Yuri and me with odd looks.

Karol laughed a bit, "See? You're a celebrity, Yuri."

"Though, not so much as the little firecracker right there," the old man pointed to me, giving me and Kairi mixed looks, looks that I couldn't figure out the meaning or emotion to it, "41,000 gald is nothing to sneeze at."

I scratched my head nervously and confused, but Karol jumped in, asking what can help with avoiding calling him by name for now, "So, what's your name, mister?"

"Huh? Ah, right…" he began, that made me tilt my head, he just spaced out staring at us, what's his deal? "I suppose Raven will do for now."

"Quoth the Raven, 'Nevermore'…" I replied, everyone turned to me and I just scratched the back of my head, "Sorry, couldn't help it…"

"For now, huh…? Who the hell does this guy think he is?" Rita said irritated as Raven's gaze went back to Kairi.

I tilted me head to the other side, why was he fixed on Kairi all of a sudden? I mean, I know she's incredibly beautiful, but usually the old man would flirt rather than just emptily stare.

"Well Raven, it's been lovely seeing you again," Yuri said sarcastically, his face and tone showing his irritation, "Now buzz off."

Raven then snapped out of his staring, "Aw, come on. Yer tryin' ta get into the palace, right? You just leave it up ta old Raven."

And with that, the old man ran off to rat us out…

"Shouldn't we stop him?" Rita asked as Yuri peaked out to see what Raven was up to.

"Actually," Yuri said oddly, "he pulled a trick like this that helped us get out of the castle."

"Really? Well, then maybe we can trust him," Estelle said happily.

"I'd like to hope so…," Yuri said turning to Kairi, "Hey."

Kairi looked up at Yuri confused, "Hm?"

"If we get in, remember, take it easy. Just because you feel better, doesn't mean that you are," Yuri stated in his big brother tone.

Kairi turned a bit pink, but nodded, "O-Okay, I will."

"Uh, they're coming over here," Karol said uneasily making us all turn towards the edge of the wall were Karol was peeping out.

We all peeped to see Raven do his signature flip and dashing off.

"He's so not getting that hug…" I replied as Yuri sighed heavily.

Estelle looked confused and upset in one, "B-but why…?"

Rita was fuming though, "Wait'll I get my hands on him. No one uses me as a diversion!" And with that she dashed out, casted, and in a few seconds, a huge explosion of fire covered the way, compliments of her fireball.

Once the flames died down, Karol walked out to check if the coast was clear. He nodded to us and took on a bored, upset tone, "There she goes again with the magic. Now what?"

"Now we go inside, what else? We just got rid of the guards and all," Yuri said obviously.

"Why'd we waste time planning then? Explosions can solve just about everything now-a-days!" I pouted.

Though everyone followed Yuri as he charged up through the gates, stopping Rita who was ahead at the front door, "Whoa. Not the front door. Let's see if we can get in from the side."

"Yeah. Just what kind of thieves use the front door?" I smirked, reminding everyone of our 'roles'.

They all nodded and we headed to the side of the building were Raven was standing in wait on the elevator that just pulled down.

He noticed us and gave us all a wink, "Hey hey, so we meet again. Glad to see you're okay," and with that he ran into the left elevator, "Catch ya later!"

And up he went, and there went Rita, "Wait!"

We all smushed into the elevator… having 2 extra people made us cram in there, and it looked tight in the game as is. Rita hit the switch…and.

"Ack! It's going dow-mrfff!" Karol shocked as he turned in shock, getting his face stuck in between my breasts.

"Aw, baby boy sure love boobs, he's on the track to becoming a man," I teased as he flailed helplessly between them.

"Uhm, Liana, I don't think he can breathe," Estelle said worriedly in a corner as Karol flailed more, knocking me back against Kairi who was crushed up against Yuri's chest as is.

"Gah, hey, it's already tight in here, lets just behave," Yuri complained with a whining tone.

Kairi on the other hand was extra silent, I had to imagine she was either having a major inner panic attack/crisis or died and went to heaven out of sheer bliss.

"Oh! That creep! He's so dead the next time I get my hands on him!" Rita shouted angrily, not caring or not noticing that Repede was crushed against her legs.

We stopped and I felt relieved for a second… until that smell hit my nose. Repede whined as I covered my nose, it was worse than you can imagine. I'd had the honor of coming by dead rats, dead raccoons, a dead beaver, hell, even a dead deer, all of which made me want to vomit… but the scent of a human corpse… this was beyond vomit inducing…the mere thought of all the people that possibly died in here made my tummy knot.

We all got off, Rita checking to see if she could get it moving, Kairi covered her nose looking ill as well, everyone else was looking around.

"Argh! I don't believe this! You can't control it from down here…" Rita complained as she returned to join us.

Estelle covered her nose now too as the scent finally got to her, "Ugh!"

Yuri looked around, his expression darkening, guess he was putting two and two together.

"Something smells rank…," Karol said with an odd look due to the smell.

"Baby boy, I'm surprised you aren't covering your nose… then again, you didn't do that with the Nia fruit back in Quoi Woods…," I pouted, curse his strong nose…

Repede whimpered as if to agree with me, his paw rubbing at his nose a bit to display his detest of the stench and memory of the Nia Fruit.

"…Blood, along with something else? It smells rotten," Yuri said darkly, quickly turning his attention to where Repede had begun growling.

We then noticed all the wolves and monsters in the room, Yuri looked serious, "I wonder if he's into raising monsters, too."

"Could be. He had Rhybgaro, after all," Rita said normally, geez, how is she okay with this stench?

"P…" I heard someone say. I looked around, trying to find the source, Please….Please let that be Pauly and not some other kid or adult in here…

Repede's ears perked up too, catching Yuri's attention.

"H…." The voice said, it was a child, I could now confirm, but was it Pauly….I can't tell.

"What is it, Repede?" he asked and I turned to him holding out my hand.

"Shut up! I can't figure where it's coming from, but it's definitely a-," I began to say until the cry got louder for us all to hear.

"Pa…pa. Ma… Help me…!" A little voice cried out.

That actually does sound like Pauly, it's gotta be!

Everyone turned towards the door where the sound seemed to be coming from...though technically it's the wrong one.

"Agh, what was that? What is this place?!" Karol said shocked, but also in fear.

"It sounds like someone's there! Let's go!" Estelle said seriously.

* * *

-*- Raven -*-

Rita: Hey you three, bring that Raven creep to me, right now!

Yuri: Huh? Why do we have to do that?

Rita: You're friends with him, right?

Yuri: I told you, we hardly know the guy!

Liana: I only promised him a hug for the info, not cause we're buds.

Kairi: And I never really spoke to him or saw him before.

Rita: Oh really? You met him in jail, right…? That's pretty shady, if you ask me!

Yuri: …I can't really argue with that.

Estelle: I think he's kind of strange, but he didn't seem bad to me.

Karol: I don't think he's all that good either…

Liana: … Amen.

* * *

We all charged through the door ahead of us, not the one to our left where Pauly was, and dealt with all the monsters in the room. And what fortuitous luck, there just so happened to be 2 chests for me to plunder some spoils, although I just handed the Leather Whip to Rita and the Knight Sword to Yuri since they'll need it, and two, I can't use em.

"Seems like no one is here," Karol said scanning the room.

"Curse the acoustics in here, lets head back and try that other door, there don't seem to be any other doors here," I said looking around in a panic. We gotta get to Pauly, and fast now.

Everyone nodded and we charged through the door, handling the monsters in the room we were originally in. We tried the left door, and what luck, once we entered we were greeted by a scene of carnage. Human remains almost everywhere, the smell was almost too much, but the sight alone made me vomit a bit in my mouth. I quickly spit it out, faking it to just be a spit rather than puking in case the others spotted me. Hey, I got a tough image to maintain.

"Ack…!" Karol shouted as he spotted some remains. Clearly even he was in shock at the sight of human remains.

Now where was Pauly, I began to scour around. Kairi looking too, until his sob led us to him.

"*Sob* *sob* Papa… Mama…," he cried.

As quick as lightning, Kairi and I were already running over to him, he was hiding behind a pile of bones, sitting on the ground, hunched forward in an almost fetal position, his hands covering his head; he was shaking like a leaf. (Thank the Vesperia god or gods that he's still alive…)

I knelt down and wrapped my arms around him and he gasped a bit before relaxing at the sight of me and Kairi.

"It's okay, it's okay, we're not gonna hurt you," I assured him calmly as Kairi knelt down and began to pet his head.

Estelle rushed over and knelt down too, "Everything's going to be okay. Can you tell us what happened?"

He sniffled and stood up slightly to look at us before lowering his gaze to the floor, "A scary old man brought me here… He said it was 'cuz Papa and Mama couldn't pay their taxes…"

Kairi kept petting his head as it seemed like he was going to burst into tears again.

Karol turned to Yuri, "Do you think that this is the kid from before…?"

"…How horrible," Estelle said in shock at the realization.

"All of these bones…could the monsters have done this?" Karol said nervously as he gazed upon the remains once more.

And once again, Pauly fell into tears, "Papa… Mama… I wanna go home."

Kairi kept stroking his hair as I held him a bit tighter, giving him pats on the back lightly. Estelle tried to soothe him by keeping him talking, "It's okay. Everything's okay now. What's your name?"

He kept sniffling and sobbing against me, until he slightly stopped and turned to Estelle a bit, his gaze still on the ground, "Pauly…"

Yuri walked over and knelt down between Estelle and Kairi to try to talk to Pauly, "Come on Pauly, be a big boy. No more crying. You'll see your mom and dad soon."

He sniffled and bit and rubbed his nose and turned to Yuri, "Okay…"

"Now there's a good boy," Kairi said gently.

"And the father of the year award goes to…drum roll please," I teased softly.

Yuri lightly chuckled but slightly rolled his eyes at me, "Well it's definitely not me."

"Of course it's not you!" I giggled loudly as Yuri's smirk turned to a pout, which made Pauly giggle.

"The scary black man was right, someone was going to rescue me," Pauly said with a smile up at us all.

"Scary black man?" That was new dialogue and info for me.

"Yeah, this scary man in black made the monsters leave me alone, he said someone was going to come soon to save me, so hide here," Pauly explained.

"What did he look like?" Estelle asked curiously, "Maybe we'll find him up ahead."

"He had black hair, black clothes, scary red eyes, and big black wings, and uhm, he was strong, and uh, uh," Pauly said frantically like little kids do when their trying to explain things.

Estelle looked surprised, though not as much as Kairi and me, though we tried our best to hide our shock.

"That's the man that broke into our room and was by Kairi last night," Estelle exclaimed, "I wasn't dreaming!"

"Where is he now?" Yuri asked Pauly curiously.

Pauly looked down, "He made the monsters go away all night and day, then told me to stay here cause it's safe, and then left a little while ago saying someone was going to save me soon and something about keeping contr…contra…dictionaries from the time line." He looked confused, but not so much as everyone else was.

"I think you mean contradictions," I said in thought, then I had a brain blast. Contradictions to the time line, Zane was here trying to keep things in order since just by us being here, we contradict it entirely, but he doesn't want to interfere with Kairi's feelings, so that's why he's not taking or sending us home (Unless he can't send us home…), or condemning this place. That's the only logical reason why he cured Kairi so fast (Other than fatherly love and concern…), and protected Pauly over the night Kairi was ill when we should've been implementing the plan. As to why he 'glared' at Estelle… its cause she's a bitch and he knows it, I give him props.

"Yeah, that word," Pauly said enthusiastically, I couldn't help but smile at how cute he was (Hey, I got a soft spot for kids, it's why I want to be a kindergarten art teacher, Karol just so happens to be a special exception for my embraces and teases).

"Well, lets get this plan going, and get you back home, okay?" I said with a smile, and Pauly nodded and smiled back.

"Well, you heard the lady, lets keep going," Yuri said with that awkward smile that always makes me want to punch him.

We cleared out every room of monsters and took the keys, progressing through hungry black basilisk, charging black rhinos, snarling black wolves, and irritating chatty black bats. Once we reached a large gate, I knew we were about to see that mother fucking Ragou.

And there he came, waltzing up to us in full glory, that sassy bitch, why I outta strangle the life outta him then dump him in the harbor…

"Well, well, what do we have here? More delicious snacks for my pet, it seems," Ragou said snarkily.

"So you're Ragou? You've got some pretty disgusting hobbies," Yuri said, obviously irritated and mad.

"I think the word you're looking for is 'sick', Yuri," I said coldly towards Ragou.

"Hobbies?" Ragou looked confused, then he got all cocky, "Oh, you must mean my basement. Only someone with my refined sensibilities could understand the pleasure I derive from such things."

"If it's so pleasurable, why don't you come in here once in a while then? I'm sure you'll have the thrill of a lifetime," I barked angrily.

"Capital idea, but I'm afraid I'll pass. You're just like those senile old fools on the council. They bored me to death and never let me enjoy myself. It's the privilege of my exalted station to dispel such boredom with the… help of the common people," he said so high and mightily. Good grief, I couldn't wait for Yuri to kill this bastard, and if he couldn't, I would, big time…

"You can't mean that's your only reason to do those things," Estelle said in shock and anger.

"No more shelter, love. You're going to have to face a bit of reality today, Estelle. You're staring at pure darkness in the face, it is his ONLY reason, and I'll wager everything on that. Sick, sadistic, son of a-" I began to rant, but stopped myself when I remembered Pauly is here with us.

"Well, I suppose I should go and fetch Rhybgaro. So many new toys… He ought to put on quite a show. Though you may not live long enough to see it…" Rhybgaro said stroking his beard maniacally.

"There's no point in searching for Rhybgaro. We've already taken care of him," Yuri said with a smirk.

"…What did you say?" Ragou said curiously.

"Are you deaf? I said we've already taken care of him," Yuri said angrily.

Ragou's face steamed red in anger, "You… What have you done to my pet?"

"If you had put a bell on it or something, maybe you wouldn't have lost track of it," Yuri sassed, I was still too fumed to pull the put a ring on it pun…

Ragou came out of his rage and stroked his beard in confidence again due to us being behind bars, "Ah well, with a bit more money, I'll soon be able to replace him."

Estelle pushed aside Yuri a bit to shout out, "Ragou! How can you say such things and still call yourself a servant of the empire?!"

"… Calling anyone a servant in an empire isn't what I'd call good, this is why I hate empires," I muttered lowly. It was also another one of those playthroughs that when Estelle said that, I was like 'Now you try to be a Princess and make him your bitch, Finally!' and also 'Servant of the Empire? What does she see Flynn and Yuri as then? Heck, what are her citizens to her then, if they're just 'servants''…. Yeah multiple playthroughs can warp your thinking on characters and phrases.

Ragou looked taken aback in shock, "What?... You… But that's impossible!"

With an awesome unsheathing of his sword, he Azure Edged the gate door so hard, Ragou was sent flying, wheee do it again!

"S-stay back! W-what do you intend to do?!" Ragou shouted commandingly with a hint of fear as he scrambled off the ground, "Someone! Arrest these intruders!"

He began to run off, and Yuri turned to us, "We'll have enemies all over the place if we don't hurry up and finish what we-hey!"

I zipped past Yuri after Ragou, ignoring Yuri's calls. Screw not being able to kill him just now, I'll be a bit satisfied if I could at least give him a much needed nose job before he could reach the top of these stairs (I mean come on, did you see his nose, it's hideous and offensive!), but I could be evil for right now, "Get back here you sick fuck! I need to string you from you neck at the summit of whatever is the equivalent of Mt. Everest, then once you're good and dead, I'll stuff you full with rocks and tie you to a sack of bricks and dump you into the harbor!"

He squealed in fear and I felt myself smirking with hidden laughter.

* * *

Huzzah, another chapter done~ Gonna skip the drabbles for this chapter for now, cause this story needs to press onward! …Then you can have your cute drabbles XD Props to anyone who gets the reference in the last quote I say XD

Caryn: Bitch you delaying my happy hour D:

Damn straight I am, no Flynn for you yet XD

Caryn: FUCK!

Anyways, I'll get onto the next chapter after I complete some college projects that'll be due next week.

Next time: Zagi, round 2….oh yay….


	17. 16: This is Madness! This is Vesperia!

This is becoming a monthly fiction. I'll get to the drabbles after we reach Caer Bocram.

Please remember, ( ) parenthesis are MY thoughts, _italics are telepathic talk between me and Kairi_

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Tales of Vesperia, Justin, or Caryn. I DO have permission to use Justin and Caryn though. I OWN myself, Kairi, and my work in this fic. That is all….

* * *

I stopped and waited for everyone at the top of the stairs by the door, heck I might've been pissed, but I wasn't stupid enough to charge into the next room that'll be filled with guards all alone. I was sulking, catching my breath, and tapping my foot until the others came up, "About time, he went inside here."

"Why'd you run off ahead?" Yuri argued sharply.

I merely shrugged and simply replied with a straight face, "I wanted to slug the guy a bit before he could get away…no such luck."

"I'm more surprised you didn't follow in after him," Karol said with his awkward expression.

"I may be rash, I may be crazy, but even I'm not crazy or stupid enough to enter into a room after someone called for back up even if I wanted to….give him what's for, baby boy, I'm hurt you'd think me that dumb," I pouted at baby boy, while relieved I managed to stop myself from saying 'fuck his shit' in front of Pauly.

Karol began to panic, "H-huh?! What? I-I didn't mean…I didn't say that!"

I had to smirk before turning to the door, "Now lets go find the blastia, then I can go find this guy and give him a MUCH needed nose job."

"Nose Job?" Estelle asked confused, "Why does he need work on his nose?"

I turned to her and slumped over in disbelief, but my tone went from soft and unbelievable to shouting at the top of my lungs, "Did you not see that thing?...It's HUGE, It has a wart that's BEGGING to be yanked off…IT'S HIDEOUS AND IT OFFENDS ME! AND IT OFFENDS HUMANITY! IT MUST GO! I'LL FIX IT! I'LL FIX ALL OF EM!"

"She _is_ a crazy lady," Pauly said hiding behind Kairi's dress staring up at me.

"Thank you for getting that," I smiled down happily at Pauly, but my smile must've frightened him as he hid more, I love kids, but I just don't have luck with getting them to like me.

"Well if he's in there, the blastia must be nearby, let's go," Yuri said as he walked up and entered into the room first, all of us following him inside.

I wasn't gonna lie…The room was FRIGGIN HUGE! THE BLASTIA WAS FRIGGIN HUGE! How much money did he take from the good people to build this place and this thing? I turned to Yuri, he had a serious look on his face as he stared up at the blastia, must be having a few flashbacks from 'that' time with the knights.

"Is this the blastia we're looking for?" Karol asked both curiously and in disbelief at its size.

Of course, no one could answer him, no one knew….well, Kairi and I knew, but we can't say. Rita of course, ran up the flights of steps to go upstairs to give this thing a look over.

"Strihm, laitos, rockra, fleck… They just patch together blastia with different formulas… This formula could manipulate the weather, but how can they use them like this?! It's just like at Ehmead Hill. They don't have the slightest respect for what they're working with," Rita ranted angrily as she checked the blastia.

"This is just what we need for evidence," Estelle said happily before calling up to Rita, "Rita, shouldn't you finish that later…?"

"We're kinda here to cause mayhem and panic. So, can we get to that now?" I pleaded with puppy eyes, though she never turned to me. Not like that'd change her mind, but still… I was bored.

"… Just a bit more… I just need to check a few more things…" Rita replied like a kid who was staring through a glass window at a toy they wanted in a store and didn't want to leave.

"You can have Flynn give you a look at it after we're done. Let's get busy with our 'emergency'," Yuri suggested to Rita before heading off to find something to destroy.

"Sweetie, go find someplace safe to hide nearby, okay," Kairi knelt down to tell Pauly.

Pauly nodded and ran to hide behind a pedestal that was near a pillar, he was hidden pretty well, and out of the way for when these assholes come in for us.

"Uhm, let's just break something that won't be missed…" Estelle said to everyone.

I stared at her dumbly, "I don't think ANYTHING in this room will be missed… though it seems pretty barren though, not sure what to destroy other than the walls, vases, portraits, or curtains…. I wanna set those curtains on fire so bad, their so gaudy..."

And with that thought, I began to go up to set them on fire….cause come on, fire solves EVERYTHING! Karol began to smash the pillar to the upper support area of the blastia, and that made me wonder…doesn't he realize if he breaks that, Rita can tumble and fall….meh game logic.

"Aaah! Damn it!" Rita shouted as she fired off 3 fireballs to the walls, and 1 seemed to appear out of nowhere, almost hitting Karol.

Karol who had been knocked to his butt, was now getting up and pouting, "Jeez! What got into you all of a sudden?!"

"We've gotta give those knights a good reason to show up, don't we?" Rita argued back.

"Yes, but I don't know if we should…" Estelle began to respond to Rita's argument.

I just turned to Rita with a shrug and a reminder, "Go nuts! Just don't hit baby boy or Pauly."

"Really, what a way to behave in someone else's home," Ragou venomously spoke.

"Hey, c'mon, with your tastes I figure a party like this would be nice…albeit you'd probably also prefer to have Satanic Rituals I bet…. count me out of those…" I shivered at the new terrifying thoughts.

"The time has come for you to earn your keep. I want all of them captured," Ragou said as the guildsmen moved forward, "Whatever happens though, take care not to kill the young lady!" He instructed as Estelle and Kairi moved in front of the pillar where Pauly was hiding to keep him safe.

"No way!" Karol said in disbelief as he looked at these guys, "Are these guys from the Blood Alliance?"

Yuri rushed over to give Karol and Repede a hand, while I went over to give Kairi a hand, keeping Ragou in my sights, if I saw a chance, his nose was MINE!

Rita was still blasting fireballs all over, making the entire house shake, "And here's another one for you!"

Ragou was now fuming, his hands making a weird movement some people do when they're angry…in fact it reminded me of the 'Y U No' Face, I almost crumpled over in laughter imaging Ragou actually doing that.

Estelle was fighting pretty well, and once Yuri was done helping Karol, he ran to help me and Kairi.

"Gah, fuuuuudggee, Kairi shoot him!" I shouted as this asshole slashed my sheeps, making my whole hand vibrate in pain.

A quick firebolt to his side and away he flew as I took off my Sheep Gauntlets to rub my hands, "Yeow, that smarts. Next time, I need to move away, don't use the gauntlet to stop blades."

"KAIRI!" Yuri shouted as he was running over to us, his sword drawn, his face serious, and I traced his stare. Someone was creeping up behind Kairi as she was now set to heal my hands.

"Oh, shit! Kairi! Behind!" I shouted as I began to try to slip back on my sheeps as quickly as possible, but.

It wasn't needed.

It seemed like Kairi was just standing there, her hands going behind her hair for a moment, then the next moment she was behind the guy with two daggers in her hands. She seemed to sheath them back in their sheaths hidden on her back, in her hair.

I blinked for a bit as the guy stood still, not moving, until…POOF!

His clothes fell to the floor in a pile of shreds… For those wondering… Yes… Yes he was a dicked bastard, not dickless… Though with a not so manly scream and covering himself to run away, he should be considered dickless.

"Whoa, that was… unexpected, since when do you have daggers?" Yuri asked as he ran over to us, asking Kairi.

Kairi of course, turned pink, doing her best to answer as she fidgeted in front of him, her eyes locking on his for a second before trying to focus on something else yet returning to lock on him and repeat, twiddling her thumbs, and being what some guys would consider as 'cute', "H-Huh? M-Me? I've always had them… I-I just… can't use them for fighting so much..."

"That was pretty fast though, I don't think I even saw when you moved, that was pretty neat. I'd sure like to learn that," Yuri said with his trademark smile, making Kairi more fidgety and now trying to hide her face by turning away. She was possibly melting by now, she always did love Yuri's smile.

(Come to think of it, when did Kairi learn that?) I wondered, but it didn't take me long until I had the answer, Final Hit. It's a skill in Mabinogi that allows for fast, multi-hit/multi-slash combos. It's mainly for dual wield as single wield is not so effective, and it teleports you across to the selected target in no time so long as you're within a certain range, and the range all depends on your rank, and Kairi just so happens to be Rank 1; The highest you can get before Mastery. Though with her weight, and her lack of strength, tearing clothes is the best she can do, not good for cutting people up or battle, that's why she never uses it.

As the house shook one more time, Yuri catching Kairi as she almost fell over in her fidgeting. He turned to Rita with a serious face before running over to her, "That's enough, we're getting out of here!"

Karol and Estelle ran over to join him quickly, Kairi getting out of her trance and gathering Pauly so we all could gather by him. Though Rita was still pissed, "What're you talking about? I'm not finished yet!"

Yuri turned away from her, "If we don't leave now, we'll run into Flynn, and I'd rather not deal with that."

"You don't seriously think he'll come that quickly…" Rita cast off another fireball and stared dumbly as it hit above the door where Flynn, Sodia, and Witcher now stood.

"Magistrate, I don't know what's happened here, but allow us to offer our assistance," Flynn said to keep the fact that we're cooperating a secret.

"Flynn?!" Estelle said happily. I face palmed at both Flynn's appearance and Estelle just suddenly calling to him. She never realized that she could give away that we're Co-op and get Flynn into a lot of trouble. And though I knew Flynn was coming, it still seemed like a pain, curse multi-playthroughs.

"There, see?" Yuri pouted to Rita, who just turned away like she knew nothing.

Ragou fixed his glasses, "Humph. He's certainly enthusiastic…"

And on cue, in came the dragon rider to destroy the blastia. Breaking through the glass window in style.

"Whoa…! Is th-that the dragon rider?!" Karol freaked out.

"An entrance with Pizzazz, full points," I crossed my arms and nodded with pride, causing everyone to sweat drop at me.

Flynn realized his plans needed to change and with a nod, everyone on his side knew what to do. They tried to engage the 'dragon rider' only to be pushed back, and the blastia destroyed with a single slash of 'her' spear.

"You! What the hell do you think you're doing?! How dare you destroy those blastia!" Rita shouted in complete anger. Venom just dripping out of each word.

"There really is a person riding a monster…" Estelle said freaking out.

"Nah, it looks more like a whale, it even sounds like one… I am so jealous right now," I fangirled over Ba'ul. Another thing about me, I love whales and dolphins, simple.

"Wait!" Rita shouted and she casted 3… no, 5 fireballs at once towards Ba'ul (remind me not to piss her off to the max level), who dodged skillfully and with a movement like he was taking a large breath, spit out a beam of fire, blocking Flynn from following before flying out the window, to go to who knows where until we see them next time.

The fire was roaring so loudly I couldn't hear Flynn's dialogue or Ragou's, but Yuri and I took notice of the crawling old man, heading towards the exit.

"Where do you think you're going?" Yuri shouted as he gave chase.

Kairi and I followed behind him quickly, everyone else following, and as usual, Estelle was last due to being frozen in place for a bit to watch Flynn (Seriously, Flynn's a big boy… do you want the D that badly?!)

Once we were out, I was never happier to see the sky. I wasn't gonna be liking it in a few minutes though, ugh, gotta jump onto that ship…

"Argh, what the hell! Who rides a monster like that!" Rita fumed angrily.

"That was the dragon rider," Karol answered her since it sounded like she wanted an answer.

Rita turned to him, still fuming, "Dragon rider? More like dragon freak! Hurting my blastia like that!"

Karol sighed, he certainly was getting used to her attitude, but he reminded me of me a bit, "'Dragon Freak' … *sigh* You know, Rita, that blastia wasn't even yours."

I snuggled Karol, "I'm rubbing off on baby boy, I love it~"

Estelle decided to speak up as Karol flailed between my breasts, you'd think he'd be used to it since at times he was, "Anyway, why do you think someone would go around destroying blastia?"

"That's a good question. I'd like to sit down and pick that dragon rider's brain sometime," Yuri said interested in the topic.

"As if you could have a normal conversation with someone like that!" Rita argued.

"I'm crazy, but I have normal conversations, I'm sure if we could catch this person and ask I might get them to answer. Though… I take offense to that reply and will consider it an insult, no apology will be accepted," I pouted to Rita, who just turned away, still fuming.

Yuri turned to look down at Pauly, "Do you think you can go home by yourself?"

Pauly looked up at Yuri seriously, "You're going to go get that bad Ragou person, aren't you?"

"Yeah, we want to hurry," Yuri said bluntly, no sugar coats, at least he didn't directly imply that taking Pauly home would be a burden.

Pauly smiled up at him, "It's okay. I can go home by myself."

Yuri couldn't help but smile back, "There's a good boy."

D'awww, it was like a father and son moment, it's so cute, why did I not have my camera out for this?! Oh wait, I did. Was I recording, in secret? I was. Why? Internet people! Internet!

As Pauly ran off he turned to wave at us one last time, before I couldn't help it, "And the father of the year goes to… drum roll please," I teased again.

Karol picked up on it and joined in, "Well… it's not Yuri."

I smiled hugely, "Of course it's not Yuri~"

Yuri just pouted a bit, still not getting the meaning behind my reply.

Karol then noticed Estelle's sour look, "…Estelle, what's the matter?"

She looked upset, "I still can't believe the magistrate could do such terrible things…"

I facepalmed gaining everyone's attention, I raised a hand up to reply, "Ugh, I'm not gonna say anything, she doesn't listen… plus, that just gave me a headache." (No seriously it did give me a headache. I told her how empires roll, she ignores. I explain that Flynn's a big boy, she ignores. I tell her that this guy is pure darkness, she ignores. She's seen how bad the empire can be and she ignores… WHY IS SHE SO DAMN STUPID!? Not naïve….STUPID…)

"Sadly, it's pretty common," Karol replied to Estelle, his face awkward, perhaps he was thinking about the same things I was.

Even Yuri looked at her in disbelief, his tone just as shocked and irritated as his expression, "Haven't you already seen what the empire's capable of several times on this trip already?"

Estelle looked down sadly in thought. (Oh, so if Flynn or Yuri says it, she thinks about it. Though if I say it or anyone else, she ignores… little bitch…).

I felt myself silently fuming, with Kairi setting her hand on my arm to calm me down from wanting to just shake this bitch and give her a good long lecture on the darkness of the world. Because being ignorant of the darkness isn't a good thing.

Karol then spoke up, "While you guys are having a nice little chat. Ragou's escaping in his ship!"

With that as a wake up call to everyone else, we made a beeline for the dock to hop on the ship.

* * *

-*-The Dragon Rider Rides Again-*-

Karol: I never thought we would meet the dragon rider in Ragou's palace!

Yuri: That was a dragon? I'd never seen a monster like that before.

Estelle: Yes. It had a very different feeling to it than any monster I'd ever seen. I wonder where it flew away to after that.

Liana: It looked and sounded more like a whale than a dragon or a monster.

Estelle: A… Whale?

Liana: ! Nevermind… *rubbing forehead*

Karol: I'll bet it has a hideout somewhere, but we don't have enough information to find it.

Rita: Enough! Enough with that dragon freak! Just thinking about that jerk makes me furious!

* * *

-*-A Whale-*-

Estelle: Uhm, Liana?

Liana: Whaaaaat?! *pouty, rubbing forehead*

Estelle: Oh, I'm sorry. It's just… I wanted to ask, what's a whale?

Liana: Ugh, my head hurts so much, please don't speak…

Estelle: *pouts*

Kairi: Um, there are many different definitions for the word whale. But the whale Liana is referring to is a type of mammal back on Earth. Their pretty large, and they look almost like giant fish, oh, only they have no scales, just blubber. Oh! And their tails are turned to go horizontally flat, unlike vertical like a fish. I think Liana has some sketches of whales in her old journals, you can ask to see them when she gets better.

Karol: She has… sketches?

Kairi: Yes. Whales and Dolphins are Liana's favorite animals, oh, a dolphin is like a smaller version of whale.

Yuri: And that dragon, looks like a whale?

Kairi: Mhm, even sounded like one. Though…whales can't fly…they swim in the ocean…

Rita: Can we just seriously drop this dragon freak talk?!

* * *

-*-Whale Hater-*-

Karol: So, Kairi… I had a question about whales.

Rita: Argh! ENOUGH ALREADY! DRAGON! MONSTER! WHALE! IT DOESN'T MATTER! THEY'RE ALL JUST THE SAME THING!

Liana: Oh, so you're a whale hater then?

Rita: I don't care!

Liana: *serious face* Fine then, you and I officially cannot become friends. Please refrain from experimenting on me or observing me, blest I report to the proper authorities on terms of harassment, and if you must speak to me, please leave a message at the secretary's desk in Ashley Oaks main office to schedule an appointment, good day. *walks off*

Karol: Whoa, she got serious pretty fast.

Kairi: Yeah, Liana can't deal with whale haters…

Rita: Hump. It's just a stupid animal.

* * *

As we all ran to get ahead to jump on the boat, I wondered if we even could make it…I was NOT confident in my jumping ability.

"What the hell am I doing here…" Rita ranted.

I opened my mouth to come up with a witty, teasing reply… but I kept my mouth shut, I was giving her the silent treatment. Childish, yes, but I was a child at heart, so, tuff.

I peered back and looked for a sign of when everyone would start to jump to jump… and sure enough, Yuri was our cue.

"Here we go…!" Yuri shouted as he ran between Karol and Kairi.

Karol panicked, "Whoa, hold it hold it hold it. I'm not ready-!"

I remembered the manga… he didn't want to be left behind, because the Hunting Blades 'technically' left him behind. If they were concerned about him, they would've gone searching for him. Instead, they cut him for the guild without him knowing, or even caring if he was safe. This is why I couldn't ever ship Nan and Karol, even through the first playthrough, she's more a sister to him. Both annoying yet silently caring, the marks of a sister alright.

In what seemed like the blink of an eye, Yuri grabbed Karol from his waist, tucking him under his left arm, and grabbed Kairi in his right arm, and jumped.

I heard Kairi squeal a bit, then Estelle, Repede, and Rita followed. I planted my feet firmly on the ground, bended my knees, and with as much force in my two feet as I could muster, I launched myself at the boat…

My eyes met with the sight of the side of the ship, travelling down towards the water… I didn't make it. Why? Cause I'm fucking overweight and I know it!

I shut my eyes, waiting for the impact of the cold ocean water, but it didn't come. Instead, I felt a force under me just launch me up and over the side of the boat, making me land face first into the deck. I sat up and rubbed my face in pain, as I got up quickly and ran over the side of the boat to see what launched me…there was nothing…

"The fuck just threw me?" I muttered to myself as I tried to think of what just happened.

"Wow, you made it. For a moment after I jumped on, I thought I was gonna have to go get you," Yuri said with a teasing smirk.

(Did he not see me fall on the side of the boat and get launched?) I just shut my eyes and smiled with a smile so bright, it was deadly, "Oh, why Yuri I appreciate the gesture, but my fat ass can make it just fine~."

Yuri got the gist that I took his comment the wrong way from how he wanted it to go and backed up a bit due to my smile, not saying a word.

(Did Kairi launch me?) I thought about it as I looked over and Kairi and slumped over, almost falling down face first into the deck again at the sight.

Kairi was lightly hugging herself, her cheeks a rosy pink. Then her hands traveled up to her cheeks as though to hide the immense blush, she was in heaven right now, I could tell.

There's no way she launched me… she's too unfocused… that leaves…

I looked up and around, nothing but sea and a ship. Mr. Universe was no where to be seen… I know it has to be him, no one else has the power to do that.

"These are all blastia cores!" Rita shouted as she opened a chest and peered inside. (Hey! Opening up chests is my thing!)

That caught everyone's attention as we all gathered around her.

"Why are there so many? And they're all just cores," Karol said in shock as he stared into the chest.

Rita turned to him, her expression filled with shock too, "I have no idea. We don't even have this many at the laboratory!"

"Could this be connected to the core thief?" Estelle said in shock also.

Yuri for one, was still unimpressed, "Could be."

"But I thought the one behind everything was a huge guy with one eye. That doesn't fit Ragou at all," Karol said up to Yuri.

"Then he might not be the only one pulling the strings," Yuri said in thought.

"Most masterminds, usually have another mastermind behind pulling strings on them whether they know it or not. After all, there's no shortage of 'puppets'," I replied, which earned everyone a look, "What? I know darkness pretty well, is that such a surprise?"

"That's actually, pretty insightful," Yuri replied in shock, before turning to Rita, "I wonder if the core from the lower quarter is here someplace."

Rita stood up, "Sorry, none of these are big enough."

That made me tilt my head, how did Rita even know how big the core was? Did Yuri describe how big it was? Well I guess I missed that memo, or just…. game logic….gonna go with game logic.

Repede then growled and Kairi grabbed her staff tightly as she stared at the three guildsman that were walking over menacingly. Everyone else jumped on their guard, all except Yuri, cause… well… he's Yuri.

"I knew it. These guys are with the Blood Alliance. They're one of the five master guilds," Karol explained before they rushed us.

"Oh Shit!" I shouted as I kept dodging their swords to try to put on my sheep gauntlets… I seriously should keep those on 24/7 here at least until we're set for bed.

"Stone Blast!" Rita cast, catching one of the three guildsmen.

"Star Stroke!" Estelle shouted as she shot out a wannabe Demon Fang at the guildsman who was caught in the Stone Blast, phasing through him and hitting the guildsmen behind him as well. Pretty good combo strategy, they're learning.

"How's this!" Karol shouted, that phrase meant one thing, he just learned a new arte, "Hammer Flow Upper!"

He brought his hammer down on a guildsman before raising it up pretty quickly, like a slashing sword…but…

"Gah!" Karol shouted as the third guildsmen hit him with the blunt end of his blade, causing him to roll backwards a bit. He still needs work with keeping up with multiple enemies.

Yuri ran to give him some help while I kept the second guildsman occupied with Kairi, as Rita and Estelle were teamed up with the first one. So, we had a good 2:1 ratio going, although, where was Repede?

I looked around and saw the loyal companion keeping the guildsman off Rita as she casted artes. Guess that means he trusts me to look after Kairi, either that or he's just that attached to Rita because she's freaked out about dogs.

Kairi's strikes were powerful enough that he looked about ready to fall over, only the asshole was too stubborn to do it.

I jabbed him hard in the side and hopped back as he slashed at me while falling to his knees once again, groaning in pain, "Can you just give up, please? Or else I'm seriously gonna have to hurt ya." Because an idea just came into my head, problem was…I'm overweight…the advantage was…I'm overweight too, hurray for gambles!

He got up growling, "Like hell, I'mma be beat by some, fat, drug-addict, transvestite!"

Yeah…That pissed me off. If there was something I was proud of with my brawls with my cousins, it was that I learned how to kick, and where was all my power? In my legs…

I took balance as he ran at me, turned and roundhouse kicked him in the face, and while I was turning towards him as he crumpled down a bit in pain, I grabbed his shoulders and climbed on him, both feet trying to balance on his shoulders. I sucked at balance, but this was life or death, I gotta make this quick.

"OW! GET OFF ME YOU FAT SON OF A-," he shouted before I raised my leg and slammed my foot into his face as hard as I could, making him smash his head into the deck. If I gave him brain damage, I don't care.

I hopped off him and noticed everyone staring at me, I glared at the other two guildsman and pointed at them, they both flinched, "LISTEN UP! I AM FAT! BUT I AIN'T NO DRUG ADDICT OR A TRANSVESTITE! NOT EVEN FOR RELIGION! MY EYES HAVE DARK CIRCLES CAUSE I HAD STRESS AND LACK OF SLEEP THROUGH HIGH SCHOOL AND COLLEGE! AND JUST CAUSE I GOT MORE GENES FROM MY DAD DOES NOT MAKE ME A MAN IN WOMAN'S CLOTHES!" I pulled down my shirt to show A LOT of cleavage, pride wasn't gonna let me accept them thinking I was a man. I squeezed my boobs together and shook them, "SEE! THEY JIGGLE! THESE AREN'T PAID FOR SILICONE TOYS, THEY'RE REAL! I WOULDN'T PAY FOR THEM EVEN IF I DIDN'T HAVE THEM!"

I did my job, both fainted in a pool of blood streaming from their noses. I blinked dumbly before pulling my shirt back up a bit, still letting some cleavage show due to the heat of having them covered, and saluting them with a teasing tone, "Good job, boys! You've died a very honorable death that most men never get to have in their lifetime!"

I had to fight back the giggles at everyone's expression, especially Yuri's face. Karol had a mini nose bleed, Rita looked absolutely appalled, Estelle was comparing her breasts as usual, Kairi was shaking with a 'what the fuck' look, Yuri was gaping, wide eyed, a bit of salmonish pink tinting his cheeks and ears, and Repede…he don't give a fuck.

With a shake of some heads, Yuri ran to hide besides the door, so when it opened, he'd have whoever came out. Karol ran to pick the door, I ran forward because I knew what would happen next.

"Out of my way!" A man shouted from behind the door as he slammed it opened, smacking Karol and sending him flying into my arms.

"Baby boy!" I shouted as I caught him, he was out, "Baby boy, wake up! We still got to get off this ship later, wake up."

As if he heard me, Karol groaned and woke up, wriggling in pain in my arms, Kairi knelt beside him and began to heal him. The both of us ignoring the giant for now, we'd just let the dialogue play out.

"Hah. Was that spineless worm Ragou running from a bunch of kids?" the man laughed out as he stared down at us all. Red coat, pretty weird colonial style…yeah not go into so much detail, he's not worth it, but…that missing hand that was replaced with this weird rotating spiky ball thing was highly distracting. And what do you know, one eye….just like the man in Shaikos dscribed.

Yuri unsheathed his sword in his usual fashion, aiming at his back, "One-eyed giant… So you're the one getting people to bring you all these cores?"

He just turned to Yuri with a smirk, "Maybe I am…"

And as quick as what seemed to be a few seconds, a giant sword came out of no where, slashing at Yuri, but Yuri was too fast for something that heavy. He hopped down by us, as Karol was good enough to stand up.

"You're quick and you've got guts, too. My arm's gonna feel that… Wish I had you in my guild," the 'giant' smirked and praised Yuri.

"How flattering," Yuri said sarcastically with a glare.

"If you like it, then you shoulda put a ring on it~," I teased, I couldn't hold it anymore.

Yuri turned to me with a look that just screamed, 'Please, no'.

I giggled at him, "I'm kidding, I'm kidding, haha." Had to have a bit of fun, it may be the last time I have fun, knowing who was coming next…

"But it's pushy guys like you I have to watch out for. Upsets the harmony of the guild, see? Nothing personal…" the giant one-eyed man finished up.

"Barbos, what are you waiting for? Dispose of these brats!" Ragou commanded, upset that we weren't dead yet.

Finally, can put a name to him without causing suspicion.

"I did all the work you paid me for. Besides, the Knights'll be here soon. Rather not have those guys following me around," Barbos barked at Ragou before turning to us again, "Next time we meet, you kids wont be getting off so easy."

Barbos ran for the life boat and Ragou began to panic, "Wait! He's still inside…! Damn!"

And here it comes….

"Zagi…! We'll leave the rest to you!" Ragou shouted as he boarded the lifeboat, Barbos cutting up the rope to drop in the water… serious how did the boat not flip?

I felt myself gulp down a ton of saliva as one of the most annoying villains in this game…and the most terrifying to meet in person, walked out into the sunlight, his usual demented look sprawled across his face, "Who is it? Who do I get to kill this time…?"

Estelle wasted no time in reacting, she was terrified and shocked at the same time, "You're the one from the castle!"

"Looks like we're stuck with this guy," Yuri said glaring at Zagi.

The boat began to rock as it was being fired upon, made me wonder how. I know that Ragou had up an ordinance for any boat leaving port to be fired upon, but why would he board a ship knowing that. And even if they knew he was on ship, how'd they get a signal to blow it to bits?!

Zagi of course ignored the ruckus, his eyes scanning us and freezing once they reached Kairi. He broke into a terrifying smile, "YOU! I KNOW YOU! You're that girl! Yes! That strong girl from back then."

I felt myself flinch, Yuri is supposed to be the target of his focus, NOT Kairi. That and his, 'I'm getting off on this' tone in his voice was making me uncomfortable.

Kairi backed up, "Uhm, I'm not that strong though…" She was as freaked out as I was, she wanted nothing to do with the mad man before us.

"My blade, it aches to… kill… I've got to kill something!" Zagi shouted as he dove for Kairi.

"KYA!" Kairi screamed as she ran out of the way in time. Yuri stepped up, Kairi practically shaking behind him.

Zagi's blade had slashed through an engine I presumed as it exploded into fire.

"Whoa… Go easy on us this time," Yuri said smirking.

Kairi looked over at Yuri, worry etched her face for a bit until she seemed to settle down. Yuri's confident vibe was calming her down.

Though it didn't seem to last for long as Zagi was back again, charging at Kairi. Yuri trying to gain his attention by engaging him in blades as Kairi tried to back up.

"You think you can kill me?! Go ahead, try it!" Zagi shouted as his blade got stopped again by Yuri's blade.

"Trust me. I will," Yuri said confidently, a tinge of darkness in his voice.

"We… We wont lose!" Karol said shaking but held his ground.

Zagi just punted him across the boat, I growled a bit and tried to get his attention as well, only to earn a slash on my arm.

FUCK THAT HURT!

"GAAHHH," I shouted as I gripped my arm and jumped back.

Zagi however, looked pretty happy with everything, his attention now off Kairi and onto me, "YES! CRY OUT! WRITHE IN PAIN! DIE FOR ME"

"I ain't fucking dying for you asshole! I'll die when I want to die, or whenever I die!" I shouted to him as I managed to connect a kick to his gut, only managing to make him move a foot back or two. Curse his tankability!

Rita and Kairi were backed up far away at a safe distance to cast spells, Estelle for one stayed back to cast healing artes, while Karol and Repede joined in the fight. I for one, backed up, I was strategically thinking here, after all, I don't got control over these guys. I know knocking him off the boat was a secret mission, but was it really so important…well it was at least an idea.

" _KAIRI!"_ I telepathically shouted, causing her to stop charging her firebolts.

" _W-What?!_ " She panicked in her reply, she was afraid, afraid of being the object to Zagi's 'affections'.

" _Use a fully charge firebolt to send him flying into the ocean when he's airborne! If we're lucky, he'll stay in the water! Snap cast and charge it up, oh but if charges you, just charge an ice spear and hit him_!"

" _Liana! My Ice Spear rank isn't that high though! It won't hurt him at all!_ "

" _He's weak to water! Ice is water! It may be a low rank, but it can freeze him at least long enough for you to get some distance to charge firebolts, and all you need is 1 charge! Remember, it's a magical skill that people abuse and spam during PVPs! It's perfect!_ " I shouted.

She looked unsure but nodded, charging up an ice spear as Zagi drew close and Yuri wasn't going to make it to her in time. She aimed and hit Zagi, he froze in a block of solid ice as Kairi ran away to try to get some distance. Looking confused as to charge up another ice spear or the firebolt.

In about 20 seconds he broke free of the ice, now back to Kairi, "Mmm, That's a new one."

Kairi gulped as he charged at her, Repede tried to intercept but he used his cyclone shot.

Poor Repede yelped in pain as he fell to the ground in pain, and Kairi quickly used Snap Cast.

" _Kairi, do it now!_ "

" _Got it!_ "

She used her firebolt and 5 charges were added immediately due to the Snap Cast, she hit him and he went flying for some yards into the ocean.

"Whoa! He sure went flying," Karol said with a giggle as he watched Zagi plop into the sea.

"Well, hopefully we won't be seeing him again," Yuri replied in relief.

Kairi knelt down to heal Repede, petting him behind the ears, "Thanks for helping me. I'm sorry…"

Repede licked her hand and nuzzled her legs as if to say 'don't apologize, it's okay'. She scratched behind his ears until the sound of splashing water caught our attention.

On cue, out popped Zagi right out of the water, "Ummnn, that's nice. You're good. Very good. So strong. You're name. What's your name?!"

I slumped and turned to Yuri and whined, "YOU JUST HAD TO JINX IT, YURI!"

Yuri shrugged helplessly, but was ready to take this guy on again at the first sign of movement.

Repede stood up, got in front of Kairi, hunched over and growled at Zagi as he eyed Kairi again, "I SAID WHAT'S YOUR NAME! TELL ME!"

Kairi cowered a bit, but gripped her staff tightly and began to cast Ice Spear.

Zagi however, decided it was time for OVER LIMITS! He hit Yuri with Savage Flight to buy some time, and as Repede ran at him, Zagi charged at him with a slash before he turned and swing both weapons behind his back to stab Repede in the leg, causing him to yelp. And before Kairi could even finish her ice spear, he charged forward, extended both arms with his swords at angles, and hit her with his Falling Leaf.

Kairi was unconscious from the initial impact, so she was lucky she didn't feel the second as her light weight caused her to fly across the deck and hit the side of the boat, head first, and very hard.

"KAIRI!" Estelle shouted as she ran to check on the unconscious girl and heal her.

"I'll blow you away!" Yuri shouted as he entered Over Limit as well, his gaze harsh. He was not taking having a friend hurt lightly. He began to spam Dragon Swarm on Zagi, which is like the MOST effective combo…but you can throw in some things…

Repede was limping, but aggressively attacking Zagi. Karol was being covered in cuts, and Yuri was wearing down after his Over Limit wore off. Rita was still safe from him casting splash on him and not gaining his attention. Even if Estelle heals her, I doubt she'd wake up that easily after taking that.

I ran to Estelle, "Estelle, forget about healing her for now, go help the others."

"But, Kairi-," Estelle began as she stared at me incredulously.

"She'll be okay, the others are going to die cause we're down a healer, and the last thing we need is our only sufficient healer to run off!" I lectured her, trying to get the picture in her head, "SO COME ON! STAND UP AND HELP! YOU CAN HEAL HER ALL YOU WANT AFTER THIS GUY IS GONE!"

Estelle looked in thought for a few seconds before standing up, "Alright! I'm ready! Oh, but before that…" She began to charge up her first aid and healed up my aching arm.

"Thanks, now let's go teach this guy a lesson!" I nodded and the two of us rejoined the fray.

"Oh wavering, OW!" Rita began casting Spread Zero until Zagi hit her with his Reaper's Cross. I began wondering how he cut me, but not Rita…. Guess cause we don't belong in the game, or…game logic… or I was just that lucky.

I tried to knock him off balance with a good leg sweep, but I barely made him stumble a bit, my previous kick drained a lot of my stamina and power. I really need to take some time to go practicing adding aer to my gaunts to increase power, and maybe buy some leg guards to add power to my legs. This was ridiculous, I was just so damn useless right now.

"Liana, Heads up!" Yuri shouted as I leaned back as Zagi almost Cyclone Shot my face. That was gonna give me nightmares for years to come.

"Gah, thanks. Ghhh," I just grit my teeth, there's no way I can beat this guy… so now, what do I do? I turned back to Kairi, she was still unconscious. I can't just go tend to her when everyone's fighting… but… it's not like we're meant to be here, we're just here because… because…

I sighed heavily, and forced myself to turn around and walk to Kairi to kneel beside her, "Say… when can you wake up? I need some practice, and we need you to fight… I… I can't do it… I'm not strong enough, not as strong as you…"

She didn't stir, I just felt myself sigh as I turned to see everyone still fighting, Zagi switching attacking people, now that his focus on Kairi was gone, at least he wasn't coming over here to-

"Hey! What's wrong?" I heard Zagi's sinister voice in my direction, I felt myself shivering, I want to go home, "How long do you intend to sleep for? Come on! Wake up and join the fun! You're strong, and strong people don't sleep while there's killing to be done!"

Fuck, his attention was on Kairi again. What do I do?

"She's not as strong as you think, just leave her alone," I angrily lectured.

I got up and intercepted him as he charged at Kairi. I tried to get up in his face with jabs, but not one connected, and instead, he grabbed my wrist, twisted till I fell to my knees screaming in pain. My body hunched forward, and he took that opportunity to step on my back, forcing me to lay face first into the deck, whimpering as his heel dug and grinded on my spine.

"You get in my way, and I'll kill you," Zagi said venomously, glaring at me angrily, his focus turning to Kairi again.

I probably just pissed myself at the sheer look he gave me. The first boss battle with him was nothing… first bosses usually are easy. Now we're seeing how powerful he is, and he's only gonna get worse… that thought alone made me want to shit my pants.

"Kairi! Liana! Stay down!" I heard Yuri shout to me as he charged at Zagi who was now heading for an unconscious Kairi.

Yuri's sword caught Zagi's before it could touch Kairi, and he reared back his head a little. "An idiot like this-," he slammed his head into Zagi's in a headbutt, making Zagi stumble back. "You've got to beat it into their bodies," He continued as he pulled back and readied his sword for a thrust, and quickly drove it into Zagi's upper chest/shoulder, "Or they won't understand!"

Zagi back up, grunting in pain a bit as Yuri pulled out the blade and kept himself in front of Kairi. Yuri was gazing darkly at him, "Don't let me see you again."

"I agree," Estelle said as she knelt by me and began healing my back. The others came closer to help if needed, everyone moving in front of Kairi to block her from sight.

"Graaah! That hurts…," Zagi grunted out as he fell onto a single knee holding his shoulder.

"You put up a good fight," Yuri complimented, and I sweat dropped.

"Yuri… is complimenting the mad man ever a good thing?" I asked awkwardly, earning a shrug from him.

"…I-I retreated… Heh heh heh. Mwa hah hah hah hah! You're tough! Yes tough! You're definitely tough! I certainly won't forget that, Yuri!" He said in his 'crazy' tone as he stood up, still holding his arm, "I'm going to kill you, Yuri, and that girl, Kairi! Gonna carve you both into little pieces! Don't move a muscle…! Mwa hah hah hah hah."

A cannon fire hit near Zagi and he was sent flying into the ocean, but not before I saw his arm come detached from his body. Yuri's stab must've severed his arm ligaments and things and the explosion just took it off, that's why his arm is a blastia next we meet. That explains so much… why am I not more disturbed about flying limbs?

Suddenly the whole ship was shaking and dropping. With the ship almost all engulfed in flames, we were sinking, and FAST. Fuck, I was NOT confident in my ability to at least float more so swim, they say buoyancy is different in the ocean, but I was still internally panicking.

"What? …It's sinking!" Karol shouted, freaking out in my stead.

The flames separated Yuri, Kairi, and Me from the others, so I couldn't grab Kairi and head over to them, I'll have to run around back and hope to find a clear area to jump off with Kairi.

I turned to Kairi only to see Yuri lifting Kairi into his arms, "Everyone into the water! Liana, Follow me!"

And with that he turned to see both ends of the ship were engulfed in flames and he began running to the back of the ship, Kairi cradled in his arms.

Huh?

I froze in my spot. Why wasn't Ioder talking?! Why wasn't Yuri going to save him?! (Oh shit, don't tell me the smoke knocked out Ioder…or worse… death by smoke inhalation…) I was seriously panicking now!

"Yuri!" Estelle shouted as she saw him run back into the flames. Her view of him through the fire must've looked like he wasn't heading to safety.

She began to run at the flames until Rita stopped her by grabbing her arm tightly, "Estellise! No!" Crazy, pink bitch.

"But…but…," she began to whine like a crying baby. Seriously, I know she was concerned about Yuri, but he's a big boy, and suddenly it felt like there was more than concern on her mind for the long-haired swordsman… and she had been all for Flynn earlier…like I said… she's a bitch.

"Shut up and jump!" Rita commanded her as she dragged her off the side of the boat. Karol and Repede jumping in right after them.

"Rita, I love you," I praised her after she jumped. Hey, I appreciated ANYONE that could give Estelle a good yell or lecture.

I looked around, my brain trying to think of what to do. I saw the unconscious guild guys we beat earlier still unconscious… could I just let them drown? And what about Ioder? Can I save him? Is he even alive? Do I just jump off and save myself? What do I do? What do I do?!

I spun in circles till I had a, "BRAIN BLAST!" I twiddled my thumbs embarrassedly, "Hehe, couldn't help it," I replied to nobody. I ran to the barrels and began to empty three of them out a bit so they'd float but still be mountable. I felt the water hit my feet and I quickly rolled the three barrels into the water and began to drag the men to the barrels and slung them over the barrels one by one. I'd hope if they slipped and fell into the water that they'd wake up and cling onto the barrel, "Thank you 'What Floats in a Moat?'."

Suddenly I heard coughing, "Is anyone there?"

I nearly anime fell, but opted for shouting angrily, not worrying if anyone could hear me, the roar of the flames was pretty loud, like a rolling train, "HE PICKS NOW TO CALL FOR HELP?! ARE ALL THE IMPERIAL CANDIDATES 'THIS' INFURIATING?!"

I ran up the steps, glad the water wasn't there yet and broke down the door hinges to spot Ioder tied to a chair. I ran to begin untying his hands, he still was bound by the waist and feet.

The room began to tilt and water filling in fast, causing the fire to go out and an intense pitch of black smoke fill the room. I covered my mouth and nose with my sleeves, sweat dripping down my face as the heat was incredibly extreme. As I untied his hands and felt around to find the knot for the next spot to work on, which would be his waist. I began on his waist, he turned his head to be as he rubbed his wrists coughing still, "Thank you *cough* so much. Who are you? *cough cough*"

"GAH! Enough talking and more untying, your hands are free! Untie your legs you dumb ass before the water gets too high or else we're gonna get stuck and drown in here in no time!" I shouted as I was having trouble with the knot… this is why I'd always wanted to secretly buy a dagger (The only one I got was a decoration one for Christmas…it's dull as heck…), hunting knife, or even an army pocket knife! Wasn't it one of Gibb's rules to have one at all times? Ugh…. Regret…

"Oh *cough cough* right," he wheezed out as he began to try to untie his feet, the water was now up to his midcalf.

The tilting ship wasn't making this any easier, soon we'd be totally vertical, I was putting all my weight into my feet to keep myself in place to hold the chair as I fiddled with this god's forsaken knot.

"Gggghhh, what did they do?! Super glue this thing?!" I shouted as I pulled on a loop causing it to come undone, I was just about done and he kicked his legs weakly to show he was done, when another bang sounded in my ears and the ship began to go vertical and I figured, down too.

Water was now pouring in from the top like a water fall, I was now kicking hard to stay afloat, did I mention…I can't float… swim across the top of the water, but never float in place. Grabbing Ioder and pulling him to the water's surface. He looked like he'd pass out any minute, and we weren't even under the water just yet!

I smacked him hard causing his eyes to open wide as I struggled to keep us afloat, "NO SLEEPING YET! WE'RE STILL NOT OUT OF HERE! KICK TO THE AREA NEAR THE DOOR TO AVOID BEING POURED ON, AND ONCE THE CABIN GETS CLOSE TO FILLING, TAKE A DEEP BREATH WHEN I SAY AND WE'LL LEAVE OUT THE DOOR! WITH AS FAST AS THIS THING IS GOING, IT MAY EVEN SUCK US DOWN! SO KICK FOR THE SURFACE AND KEEP KICKING! GOT IT?!"

He nodded and began to listen as we both moved to the area beside the door to be able to take in some air before the entire cabin would fill…once that's full the ship may sink even faster. I was freaking out inside, I wasn't ready to die just yet, so I need to do everything I can to make sure I get out of this, oh and this stupid prince too…

Once the water was to our necks I shouted, "AIR NOW!" He and I took a deep breath and soon the water was above our heads and we began trying to exit the door, but the pressure was still keeping us inside, it took 15-20 seconds it felt like to be able to exit the door, but as frantically as we kicked for the surface, the further it seemed to get. The ship was taking us down, not good.

We kept kicking our hardest, but it was obvious Ioder couldn't handle anymore, a mass of bubbles escaped his mouth, his eyes closed, and he fell limp. I grabbed his wrist before he could sink any further and kept trying to kick, my own air running out. My lungs were screaming, I'd never held my breath for longer than 50 seconds. The surface was getting further, no, not like this, I've never wanted to die like this!

I closed my eyes tight in fear, and opened my mouth, salt filled my mouth, I couldn't hold it anymore, bubbles escaped, and I waited for the burning sensation of water going up my nose as I inhaled sharply, but it didn't happen. Instead… it was like breathing air, I was fine. I opened my eyes and looked up, the surface wasn't getting any further, we weren't being pulled anymore.

I thought dumbly for a second before rolling my eyes, now 'HE' was just being a show off… but as I began to complain inside about him, I looked down… big mistake…

BLACK…. DARKNESS …ENDLESS ABYSS….

Those words filled my mind as I felt my skin go white, I was trembling, and I knew I had goosebumps galore. I watched the ship sink, the black abyss pulling it down like millions of tiny dark hands, hands I wanted nowhere near me. Ioder was dangling down under me on my grip on his wrist, sinking rather than floating, as if the dark abyss was trying to take him. My adrenaline shot through the roof due to fear, and I began to kick for the surface like I never had before.

Getting closer, I then felt something grab my wrist and begin pulling me up to the surface. Once I broke the surface, I took in a large breath of air, coughing a storm and spitting up water before picking up Ioder out of the water, he was heavier than he looked, even with the water cutting his mass down.

"Are you okay? What were you thinking? I said to follow me!" I heard Yuri argue as I kept trying to regain my breath.

I coughed a bit before raising my finger to answer, "I heard this idiot calling for help, *cough* he was tied up in that room. Knots were hell…"

"Who's that?" Rita asked staring that the blonde unconscious prince, she had Kairi in her arms, so I had to figure Yuri handed her to Rita to go get me.

"Ioder…!" Estelle shouted in surprise.

Rita of course looked surprised her girlfriend knew another man, *cough* I mean, she was surprised Estelle knew him, "What, you know him?"

"Look, a boat! We're saved! Heeey! Over heeere!" Karol shouted as he floated on his bag.

The boat came closer and Caryn and Flynn came into view on board the deck. "It looks like everyone made it through unharmed," Flynn shouted out to us.

"SCREW YOU! ONE OF US IS UNCONSCIOUS, THIS GUY IS UNCONSCIOUS, AND I'VE BEEN EMOTIONALLY TRAUMATIZED! YOU OWE ME SOME HOT CHOCOLATE FROM A NICE CAFE!" I shouted to him, which earned me some odd looks from everyone including Flynn, except for Caryn who was laughing her ass off. She knew I didn't want him getting ideas to 'make' it.

Flynn scratched his head a bit before finally noticing the blonde in my arms, "…Master Ioder!" I swear my ears picked up Yoda instead of Ioder, I almost had a fit of giggles.

"Wait. I'll pull you out. Caryn, Sodia, give me a hand," Flynn said urgently.

And we were all plucked from the water, wrapped in warm blankets. Everyone shivered a bit, but I shivered like a tree swaying in the wind, I was never going to swim in the ocean again for as long as I lived…

* * *

Another chapter done, huzzah!

Zane sure is busy isn't he?

Kairi: Yes, daddy has a lot of responsibilities.

And an idiot like me is screw up those responsibilities~

Kairi: Mhm, we contradict the timeline entirely.

HEY! YOU'RE SUPPOSE TO DENY THAT WE'RE IDIOTS, NOT ACCEPT IT!

Justin: Well… I'm just making money, so I doubt I'd ever meet the guy or get on his nerves.

Caryn: And I just want to be with Flynn, you're the one screwing with things here Liana.

SO IS KAIRI!

Justin/Caryn: To Zane, she gets a free card.

No fair…

Caryn: Just finish up these chapters so we can get to the fluff, romance, and lemons already! You're denying me my time with Flynn D:

Oh shut up, a few more chapters and then I'm going to do some drabbles and give you some Flynn in a drabble, fine?

Caryn: YOU BETTER!

Next time: Torim Harbor and heading to Caer Bocram


	18. 17: Sarcasm Self Test Complete

Edit: Accidentally mentioned Ioder's name when he hadn't said it yet here... fixed that now (Lately I've noticed a couple more errors like grammatical errors in my earlier chapters; wont be fixing those due to them being minor. But the biggest besides this one was changing the 45k gald bounty to 41k, just cause I liked the sound of 41 compared to 45 XD, though I'll keep the 45 in the earlier chapter, too lazy to go edit it).

Edit 2: Changed hand to hilt XD damn I must've been sleepy when writing that...

Please remember, ( ) parenthesis are MY thoughts, _italics are telepathic talk between me and Kairi_

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Tales of Vesperia, Justin, or Caryn. I DO have permission to use Justin and Caryn though. I OWN myself, Kairi, and my work in this fic. That is all….

* * *

"Is she going to be alright?" Caryn asked worriedly as she stared at Kairi.

"I dunno, that guy hit her pretty hard, then she hit the boat head first," Karol answered.

"This is why she needs to get off that guy's fan list. She's not built for combat or defense, just distant magic and healing," I replied, and everyone seemed to be recalling Ehmead Hill.

"Mmm," Kairi groaned as she was coming too.

"Ah, she's waking up already," Flynn said with a sigh of relief.

Kairi was propped up along the side of the ship, wrapped warmly in a blanket. Her eyes popped open slowly, rubbing them weakly, "Hungry…"

Estelle and Yuri were both kneeled down beside her, Estelle had been healing her for any head injuries, and Yuri just waited for her to open her eyes before asking his questions, "You okay? Can you see how many fingers I got up?"

He was holding up one finger, but Kairi ignored, groaning in pain and hunger, still rubbing her eyes. Come to think of it, I was getting hungry now…fighting a mad man can give you quite an appetite.

Yuri put his finger closer to her face so she could see better, big mistake.

Paku!

She bit Yuri's finger firmly but gently, holding it in her mouth. Her body lurched as if she were gagging before she muttered out, still keeping a firm bite on Yuri's finger, "Shhhhaaaallttiippbbhhh."

"Hey!" Yuri protested as he tried to get his finger out of her mouth, which only earned him a few suckles and a harder bite, "Ow! Kairi! Let go!"

Estelle looked panicky and began trying to talk to Kairi to make her let go of Yuri, but she was out of it still. Caryn and me began to laugh our assess off at Yuri's expense, "Ahahaha, We need to get some food once we reach land, or else Kairi'll eat Yuri whole hahaha!"

Yuri just turned to me with a pout, "Liana, help get her off!"

"Let her be, she's coming too, she'll figure out you're not food eventually," I smirked at him.

True, she was coming too, after a couple more blinks she was more than half conscious now, and that meant… I grabbed my camera and began recording, no way I was letting her forget this.

"Hmmmmm?" Kairi said in a bit of a daze, staring at Yuri, slowly regaining her focus, her mouth lightly suckling on Yuri's finger.

"You awake now? Or would you prefer to eat the rest of my hand while you're at it?" Yuri teased lightly, but still was attempting to pull his finger out of her mouth.

"Hmmmm?" Kairi said with a few suckles, coming too, coming too, and finally!

"Hmmmm?!" Kairi got out as her face and body from ears to toes turned a dark, dark, crimson red. Steam was actually coming from her ears in a steady stream. She trembled and shook violently and released Yuri's finger immediately, tears beginning to fill the corners of her eyes, and began spouting apologizes galore, "I'm sorry! I'm so so sorry! I was thinking about bacon strips and- -!"

"Bacon Strips?" Yuri said raising an eyebrow at her as he rubbed her finger, which now was sporting a beautiful teeth mark ring.

The tears poured down her cheeks, turning to steam at how hot she became due to her blush. She hid under her blanket, the sizzling sound of her tears streaming down her hot face was the only thing we could hear besides her apologizes and sobs, "I-I-I-I-I'm, I'm sooooorrrryyyyy!"

Estelle waved her hands unsure of what to do, as Yuri moved back a bit, remembering that she burnt him once by contact with her skin.

"And done," I said as I stopped recording and watched the bunch worry over Kairi.

"You sure are evil to her, Lian," Caryn said to me as she nudged my side.

"Hehe, only when I want to be," I replied with a grin.

The both of use watched Torim Harbor coming into view, hopefully Ioder would wake up before we made port. He had been taken into a room below deck to be treated, I was praying he didn't drown to death.

"Almost 1/3 done with this…" Caryn said sadly.

"We're no where near the 1/3 mark yet. Keep your head up. You'll have more time with him," I replied, which earned me a small unsure smile from Caryn. She knew, once this was all over, we'd be going home… and for her that meant no more Flynn… I wonder what that would feel like… having to say goodbye forever to the one you love most in the world… I have a vague idea… but to be with them, get close to them, then say goodbye for good… Caryn was strong…Kairi too…

* * *

Once we made port, we were in luck, Ioder woke up.

We all met up at the front of the lighthouse. Ioder stopped and bowed to me, "I owe you my thanks. You saved my life."

"Thanks not accepted, I stared into the abyss, I'll be traumatized for as long as I live," I pouted as I crossed my arms, and turned to Flynn, "and you owe me a hot chocolate."

"Huh?" Flynn said with wide eyes, completely confused while Ioder looked a bit taken aback.

"Because I say so," I nodded, giving him a stern look.

Caryn just giggled, she knew how I was, this was a norm.

"Hey, who is this guy?" Rita asked Estelle, full of frustration.

Estelle looked unsure of what to say and stuttered, "Um, well, you see…"

"Ah, so he's a boy toy, eh? Didn't think you were like that," I winked suggestively at Estelle, who looked confused, but everyone looked about to cover my mouth.

Estelle just tilted her head in confusion before Flynn cut in, "I've made arrangements at the inn. We can discuss things further there."

Flynn then turned to Yuri, "You'll come, won't you?"

Yuri just nodded in response. Then Flynn nodded to Ioder, and Ioder nodded to Flynn…. Fuck their telepathy; Me and Kairi, and Judy and Ba'ul are the only telepathy canon here! Though with that, Flynn and Ioder headed towards the inn, Caryn stayed back with us to hang a bit.

"We should get to the inn with them too, I'm hungry, and Kairi may eat Yuri again if we don't," I piped up, which made Kairi turn dark pink in the face.

"I will not!" She argued as fussed at me with a pout.

We all nodded and headed to the inn.

* * *

-*- A Little Freaked Out -*-

Estelle: I thought you were done for when the ship sank with you still on it.

Karol: Seriously. I was pretty worried there for a minute. I'm glad you made it.

Liana: Awww, baby boy! *hugs*

Karol: Waugh! Liana, wait! I can't, mrrfff!

Yuri: *pouts* I had asked you to follow me though.

Liana: I heard that guy calling for help, and I couldn't just leave those other three guys to drown, I got a thing called a conscience you know. Though it began filling with water pretty fast, I got a little freaked out. That's why Fear Factor is so good to watch.

Estelle: Fear Factor?

Rita: You almost died and you were just a little freaked out? There's something wrong with you.

Liana: You just now get that…

* * *

-*- Fear Factor -*-

Estelle: Say, Liana.

Liana: Hm?

Estelle: If you don't mind… What is Fear Factor?

Liana: *smirks* Imagine a world, were your greatest fears become reality~. Welcome to Fear Factor~. Each show 6 contestants from around the country battle each other in 3 extreme stunts. These stunts are designed to challenge the contestants both physically, and mentally. If a contestant is too afraid to complete a stunt, they're eliminated. If they fail a stunt, they're eliminated. But if they succeed, they move one step closer to the grand prize, 50,000$. 6 contestants, 3 stunts, 1 winner. Fear Factor!

Caryn: You really nailed saying the whole intro without fail haha.

Liana: We gotta have them at least watch Season 1 *smirks*

Karol: Why am I getting the feeling we don't want to see it?

* * *

Of course, before we could get to the inn, I noticed a giant tuna looking fish….I wanted to poke it, but…, "Grrrr…"

My tummy answered for me, I know we'll be back, I'll just ignore 'him' until then... but….

I dashed towards 'him' and slapped 'him' hard, and with a puff of smoke, the Wonder Chef appeared, "OW! I've never had such rough treatment before!"

He looked appalled and taken aback, but I didn't care.

"We're kinda busy, so, do I get a recipe for finding you? Or do I smack you again for pretending to be a fish of all things and gaining my attention?" I replied with a serious face.

"Eeek! You are one fiery lady. I hope such fire can be of use in the kitchen, here you go!" the Wonder Chef said handing me a recipe.

I turned it and tilted it, until I decided to say what it was, of course I had already known what recipe it is… but… y'know appearances, "Fried Chicken and Fries?"

"It's a scrumptious meal, simple for even the most beginners of culi-" he began praising, but I just tossed the recipe to Kairi, and he shouted in panic, "HEY! My recipe!"

"I make that stuff at home all the time…Kairi or the others can learn it," I pouted and gave him a bored look, "Next time, give me something interesting, like a challenge."

He coughed a bit before regaining composure, "Ahem, well, so long as my beloved recipes can find a loving home~. Bon Appetit!" And with that he poofed away.

"I still can't get use to that," Yuri said, his hand on the hilt of his sword, set to draw, guess the smoke drew his 'usual' attention, but he was getting used to it.

A puff of smoke filled our gazes once more, "I almost forgot to give you the in-" The Wonder Chef began to say until Yuri's sword was on him again due to the surprise return, "gredients…for…practice…. Ummm… may I?"

The chef held up the bag of ingredient sets, and we graciously accepted them as he poofed away, Yuri sheathing back his sword. So much for getting used to it. We all just shook off the bizarre encounter and headed to the inn.

* * *

-*- Zagi -*-

Karol: Yuri, you sure know a lot of strange people. Like that Raven guy we met in Capua Nor, or that Zagi who attacked us.

Rita: "Weirdo" is putting it mildly. What's his deal anyway?

Yuri: That's what I'd like to know. It's nice to have fans, but this is ridiculous.

Estelle: It looked like he went down with the ship though… Maybe that was the last of him?

Liana: Estelle, please don't jinx it…

Yuri: I don't know. Common sense just doesn't seem to apply to those kinds of people.

Liana: Nor do the Laws of Physics, or absolute logic… I think…

Karol: Man, I really don't want to see him again!

Liana: You and me both, baby boy.

Rita: Well, even if we do, he'll be gunning for Kairi and Yuri, not us. I've got nothing to do with this.

Yuri: We'll deal with that when the time comes.

* * *

-*-Torim, the Center of Trade-*-

Rita: Torim feels a lot more like a port city than Nor did, don't you think?

Estelle: Yes, it's lively, and the port is full of ships.

Karol: That's because Torim is run by Fortune's Market. They control shipping all over the world. I'm pretty sure Fortune's Market has their headquarters in Torim.

Yuri: I guess business can keep a city running if people want it to. I never would have thought of that.

Liana: Plus, no Empire influence. I love it. If there wasn't an Empire…would the world seem better? Though, people need law and order… but is there even a right way to do it?...

Caryn: Good question… a world without the corruption of the empire would be nice… but what could take its place?

Liana: Well our government isn't so bad, but at the same time it is, we have freedom to certain extents, but… I can't say I'd recommend that…

Kairi: I wonder…

* * *

Once we entered the inn, Yuri and Caryn went to the desk to ask about which room Flynn was in, as well as to make reservations for us to sleep for the night… well part of the night. I noticed a man and woman looking our way and talking to each other, and the familiar dialogue played, I knew we'd be spotted tonight, gotta get that shut eye in early.

"Wow, what a strange group of people. A dog and even a couple of kids… and they don't look like they're all related, either. Except for the brown woman, girl, and boy, they look to be like two sisters and a younger brother," the older woman said in a whisper that I could hear.

"As the gateway to all of Tolbyccia, Capua Torim sees its fair share of interesting folks. A motley crew like theirs isn't too uncommon among all of the guilds that pass through here," the man responded to the older woman.

She gazed over in Yuri's direction, then back at me, "But I could swear that I've seen that young man and woman somewhere before…"

"You too, ma'am? To tell the truth, they look familiar to me, too. I wonder where I've seen their faces…" the man said as he squinted at Yuri and me.

Yuri of course took notice in my displeased look at the pair gazing upon us. He must've begun figuring that they might rat us out, but the innkeeper cut his thoughts, "Your room is the last one down, on the right. Have a pleasant stay."

Yuri turned to the innkeeper with a smile, "Sure, thanks."

We entered into the room Flynn was in and our moods quickly darkened at the sight.

"You…!" Rita practically snarled angrily at the sight of the sadistic old man.

Ragou turned to us, unbothered by our survival at all, "Yes? Have we met somewhere?"

Yuri had to stop Rita from charging him, "Convenient time for amnesia. I know somebody who can fix that for you."

"And that nose!" I brought up as my fingers wriggled, THAT WART, it's just begging to be ripped off!

Ragou kept playing cool, "Amnesia? I'm terribly sorry, but this is the first time we've met."

"Are you crazy?!" Karol shouted angrily, I actually had to hold him back.

Flynn stepped forward, "Magistrate, your crimes are undeniable. These people have seen everything."

Ragou was still calm despite the 'princess' being among one of the witnesses, "As I've just been explaining, someone had assumed my identity and was trying to ruin my reputation. It was most upsetting."

"Liar! I saw those people you fed to the monsters with my own two eyes!" Rita shouted angrily.

Ragou turned to Flynn with a confident grin, "Well, Sir Flynn? Who are you to believe, these young ruffians or me, a member of the Council?"

"Ruffians?" I muttered to myself. Estelle was with us, she's the mother fucking princess, why doesn't she even say anything?! He word should have a bit more power over his, at the very least it's enough to convict him into trial, since if Ioder were to try to argue of what he did, it would certainly be an opportunity for Ragou to blame the knights, but Estelle is on the Council side… her words should be more persuasive for them than just his alone, and they shouldn't be on his side if he considered them all to be 'senile-old fools'.

"Flynn…" Yuri muttered out, I heard Caryn muttering his name too as she took a place beside Ioder. But Flynn just lowered his head, he wasn't going to do anything… so much for law and order…

"It's settled then. I bid you all good day," Ragou said as he bowed to Ioder, and Ioder gave him a bit of a worried look, but only lightly bowed in return. As he walked past us, I couldn't hold it anymore, this guy just pissed me off.

I stomped my foot on Ragou's back robe, making it rip a bit and having him fall face first into the ground, "Why you little!"

His face was fuming as his glasses were bent and crooked now to match his nose.

I turned to him with a shocked look and put my hands in my pocket, "Oops, I'm sooooo sorry. My leg felt tired after all that swimming, and I moved it over your robes on accident. I deeply apologize for my bodies inability to move properly."

"*beep* Sarcasm self-test complete *beep*," my phone responded as I clicked the play button on the mp3 sound file.

Caryn began to giggle, as Ragou got up, dusted himself off, huffed angrily and turned to leave out the door.

"Who does that guy think he is?!" Rita shouted angrily as Ragou left the room, before turning to Ioder, her finger accusingly pointed at him, "And who the hell is he?!" (Wow, Estelle's girlfriend is sooooo jealous right now, hehe)

"Settle down," Yuri said firmly to Rita as he awaited an answer from Flynn.

Flynn just turned to us, "This is…," but he stopped and put his hand to his chin as though unsure if protocol would allow him to speak who this was. Though Estelle walked over beside him to answer Rita's questions, "This is His Royal Highness Ioder, candidate for the imperial throne."

Of course I just stared dumbly at the two, if I had to picture my expression, it'd be matching that Ace Attorney face when Phoenix Wright hunches over sweating with that 'what is the world coming to' look. After multiple play throughs, more questions arose than answers. Like for one, I understand that the council and knights kinda both want power, but that both need to work together to function properly. I know that there's no emperor but is it really so hard for Estelle and Ioder to have just made a partnership and work together for the sake of bettering the empire rather than just being 'Damsels in Distress'! I mean seriously, Estelle basically 'allowed' others to make decisions for her the majority of her life… and Ioder just gets 'kidnapped' like a little bitch without calling out the guy who kidnapped him. These people are fucked up… and their empire is screwed until changes can be made. I feel like running for president here, I'd either put the country in flames on accident or whip them into shape!

"Huh?" Karol said oddly as he walked beside me, chuckling a bit. "Hah hah, yeah right, Estelle, good one…" but when no one responded, Karol began to slightly realize, but not quite click yet, "Hah hah hah… …What?"

"I am only one of the candidates," Ioder replied as Caryn gave him the sweating Phoenix Wright look, hunched over in full glory.

Flynn took notice of her look and responded to the disbelief, "It's true. With the passing of the previous emperor, Master Ioder is a rightful heir to the throne."

Karol stepped back in shock, "R-really?!"

"Yes," Ioder replied. Wow, no shame in saying he's royalty, unlike a certain pink princess who won't tell us she's a princess.

"An alleged imperial heir captured by a so-called magistrate. That's interesting," Yuri said sarcastically.

"*beep* Sarcasm Self-Test Complete *beep*", my phone said and everyone turned to me for a second, except Caryn who just giggled while I grinned goofily; I couldn't help it.

"…I see. Then this incident means that I…" Estelle began to say as though expecting no one could hear her.

Flynn quickly shook his head to tell her she couldn't say it aloud, and that made Yuri irritable that his best friend wouldn't let him in on the details, more so Estelle.

"A little to juicy for public consumption, huh?" Yuri said in his cocky tone, though his underlying frustration was evident in his eyes and speech even though it wasn't directly put to tone.

"Juicier than aliens getting stuck on this planet and roaming around? That's not juicy, that's scandalous now…" I replied, crossing my arms a bit peeved that she just wouldn't spill it about the Council and Knights. It's not like it would do any harm to know now, in fact, we're about to find out in Heliord if I recall. Ioder looked taken aback by the alien bit though, sorry, we're human just not of this planet little prince.

"I… I just…," Estelle stuttered out, she was at a loss for words, she wasn't going to say anything, that and she just got her little beginning crush on Yuri after the ship sank so… she's lost on what to do.

Yuri looked peeved, but his gaze never left Estelle, his tone accusing, "It's got something to do with your decision to leave the castle, doesn't it?"

"…" Estelle turned her head away with a slight mix of a grunt and sigh. I just had every urge to shout 'BEGONE THOT!', but I gripped my arms tighter to keep from shouting it.

Yuri just turned around to no longer face her, he was obvious angry that he brought her this far to Flynn without her confiding in him after all they'd gone through… well all 'we' had gone through.

"Do whatever you want," Yuri said irritably, like an arguing parent, "I've got no interest in an empire that just sits and does nothing while it's people suffer in plain sight."

"And I have no interest in an empire, period… seriously, it's an empire…," I responded for like the millionth time stating my feelings on the topic.

Estelle looked taken aback by Yuri's words, she looked down like some hurt girlfriend, and it was Flynn, her knight in shining armor to the rescue, "Yuri…"

Flynn's tone went from understanding to a bit irritated himself, no doubt he wanted to push Yuri in his own way, but it wasn't gonna help him much either, "And what have you changed by turning your back on such an empire? We need just laws laid down by the government to ensure that people can live lives of stability and peace."

I started to get a headache, I fucking hated politics, and I definitely hate speeches or topics of conversation with it. I just wanted to slam my head into the goddamn wall.

"Those same laws just let Ragou walk out that door," Yuri argued back. He had a point, the system was totally corrupted to only serve those who have the status, money, and power to scoff at it.

"Which is why you and I became knights, Yuri. To change things like that," Flynn began, then I began to think of the First strike movie and Drama CD… I thought Hanks made Yuri join the knights after Yuri was fighting some guys in the Lower Quarter Inn or Bar… just somewhere in the Lower Quarter, because Flynn was surprised to see him at the recruitment exams, so they never went together to do it. Of course Yuri was going to be cut out from the knights due to saving a team member rather than following orders, cause the empire is corrupt AF, but he passed cause he killed the monster in one blow and was sent with Flynn to Shizontania to join the Niren Corp.

"If we couldn't make it happen by yelling about it from below, then we said we'd gain honor and trust, and fix the empire from within, Remember?" Flynn continued as Yuri's fist balled up, his expression that of pure irritability as he turned to Flynn with an aggravated tone, "…So in order to get ahead in life, I'm supposed to stand by while somebody feeds little kids to monsters? Is that it? You want me to look the other way when our people in the lower quarter are being bled dry by taxes? It's because I can't do those things that I quit being a knight."

Flynn argued back, "I know. But has anything changed because you quit?"

That hit a nerve, in both Yuri and me, Yuri just grunted angrily while I rolled my eyes.

"How is anything different than it was before you joined the Knights?" Flynn continued.

I wanted to shout, 'Has anything changed since you became a 'knight' Mr. Puppet?' I had come to the conclusion from when we first met in Nor Harbor that Flynn was no knight to me. Sure he did a few of his knightly duties for the people, but he was just being a pawn for his superiors and following orders, right now I doubt the thought of getting ahead is on his mind rather than Alexei's request that he find Apatheia, and he'll keep doing so until Estelle gets kidnapped…

Yuri just turned around and left to avoid arguing further, Karol wanted to chase after him but was unsure of whether to go or not, "W-wait, I'm coming too…" His gaze went from the door to Flynn, back and forth, as Flynn rubbed his temples.

"I-I'll go check on him," Kairi chimed up almost too loudly as she turned and ran out the door after Yuri, earning a small giggle from me.

"I've done it again…," Flynn mumbled loudly, "I only want for him to move on with his life. To quit sitting around."

"He's gotten this far hasn't he?" I mumbled lowly with an aggravated tone. Yup, Yuri was officially my spirit animal, Flynn was forever going to get on my nerves just like those two do.

"Flynn, I…" Estelle turned to him with a stutter, like a girl fixing to ask her father if she can date a guy.

Caryn was glaring daggers at her, but just gripped her arms tighter as she crossed them to keep from shouting at the pink haired girl.

"…My apologies for such an embarrassing scene," Flynn apologized to Estelle.

Ioder walked over to Estelle's other side, "What do you intend to do next?"

They looked like 2 vanilla pieces with strawberry in the center, a yummy threesome… the current images flooding my mind from all the dirt in my brain made me want to puke blood at that previous comment….

"Would it be alright if I go with him?" Estelle asked Flynn for permission.

This was the moment I had realized after a few playthroughs, that Flynn was never her true interest or focus. She just wanted out to explore mainly, then make sure Flynn was ok… if Flynn had been her true goal, she'd have left with him right now, but due to her sudden seeming out of no where crush on Yuri, she was now fixated on him, and exploring.

"Why?" Flynn asked surprised and taken aback by her request.

"...I feel like so much has changed during my travels with Yuri. The empire, the world... I've changed as well..." Estelle said as she held her hands to her heart, like a maiden who had first found love.

I rolled my eyes and mumbled to myself, "Just say you want the D, you thirsty bitch…" We hadn't even traveled so far or for so long and yet, Yuri 'miraculously' changed her world within that small time frame. If that wasn't an obvious way of her saying she wanted to just be 'with' Yuri, then I dunno what else is.

"Fucking thot," I heard Caryn mumble under her breath, Flynn turned to her with his head tilted, as though unsure what she was mumbling before turning to Estelle, "Lady Estellise… Understood. You there, Miss Liana."

"Whaaaaat?" I whined irritably at Flynn, my current thoughts were giving me a headache, that and I really wanted a shower and some fucking food about now!

"Tell Yuri to take good care of this young lady," Flynn said requesting.

"I will let Yuri decide that, not make him. This isn't the god damn Caesar's Palace or some fancy place, so good care means camping outside most times and dealing and doing with what we got, got it!" I argued at Flynn to make a point about any ideas that he may have about babysitting a princess equaling luxury.

Flynn gave me a harsh gaze, yeah, we weren't going to be friends any time soon, he can press my god damn buttons just as hard as Estelle can. With a sashay of my hips and a wave of my hand, I turned to walk out of the room as my tummy growled to tell me, 'bitch go make me a sandwich!' I could care less for the remaining dialogue.

* * *

I exited the building, my clothes were getting dry already, though my hair sure could use some TLC to get the salt out of it. Yuri and Kairi were no where near the front of the Inn, my guess is they were heading towards where Raven was, so I made a bee line towards the Docks, I'll run into them eventually.

And just my luck, there was Raven, creeping Kairi completely out. I had wondered what Raven said to make her cower behind Yuri. I hid behind a bench to spy on the them.

Raven shrugged before looking in my direction, quickly noticing me, and giving me a smile, "Ah! Now there's the pretty lady I've been looking for!"

My face turned pink at the compliment, but I walked over to them, coming out from the bench, "Looking for me? Why?"

He put his arms out, "For my 'big' hug of course~"

I closed my eyes and grinned from ear to ear in a sickeningly sweet way, I had just the excuse, "Oh, I'm sorry. I have a policy, you did me a good deed and indeed I would have rewarded such, but you kinda ratted us out back there at Ragou's place, so therefore your reward was revoked."

He just dropped his head, "I'm just terribly misunderstood, honest!"

"You need to see a doctor for your tendency to unconsciously cause trouble to others," Yuri said almost sarcastically.

Raven just winked at him, "Ya might see if ya can get that foul mouth of yours checked out, too." Ooof, burn Yuri.

"Got a comeback for everything, huh? If you don't stop putzing around, the Knights are gonna throw you back in jail!" Yuri replied.

Raven chuckled, "Heh, the Knights are a bit too busy to bother with me. I saw a rough-looking guild group moving to the northwest not too long ago. The Knights can't just turn a blind eye to them, can they?"

Yuri looked surprised and in thought before turning to Raven again, "…Rough-looking, you say? Was it the Blood Alliance?"

"Beats me," was Raven's simple answer.

"By the way, what was your business back there?" Yuri asked.

Raven just casually answered, "Nothing special. I was looking for an 'apatheia'."

"What is an 'apatheia'?" Yuri asked again.

"Whatever it is, it don't sound appetizing," I replied as my tummy growled to remind the dark-haired swordsman we still needed a meal.

"It isn't. Supposed to be like a really strong core. Heard it was there but I guess I had the wrong information," Raven kept talking.

"I see… an 'apatheia'…" Yuri said in thought.

"Would it be strong enough to make a feast in 10 seconds?" I asked as my tummy growled again, this time Kairi's tummy chimed in as well. Her hands covered her tummy in embarrassment and her cheeks turned a bright red.

"Oh, care for me to treat you two lovely ladies to a nice dinner?" Raven flipped and winked at us.

"Uh, Uhm, I-I'm sorry, no thank you," Kairi replied bowing as I grinned again, "Why Mister Raven, I'm afraid I'm not kind enough to give pity dates~."

He turned to sand and was crumbling away, at least that's what it seemed like to me as I saw him freeze in place with a pale look of despair; it took everything in me to keep me from laughing.

"Oh! Yuri! Liana! Kairi! Hey, over here!" Karol shouted as he spotted us.

Rita of course had a different reaction, "Argh, I'll get you, old man!"

Raven snapped out of his rejection stage and looked panicking at us as Rita began to charge over, "Hmmm, maybe I'd best be off, now."

"Yep. The Amazoness has emerged," Yuri said to Raven cheekily.

"But isn't an Amazoness a woman from a flaming lesbian tribe?" I asked earning a large eyed stupid look from Yuri and Raven. Hey, I blame Seto no Hanayome (AKA My Bride is a Mermaid).

Raven quickly saluted and ran off, his eyes still wide.

"Wait, damn it! I'm gonna beat you senseless!" Rita shouted as she ran past us.

Karol ran up to us, gasping for air. Seriously, it wasn't that far a run, why are these guys so tired? I ran here, I'm fine, and I'm the fat one! Karol just tried to catch his breath, "*huff* *huff* Why'd you let him get away?"

"He said he's terribly misunderstood," Yuri turned to Karol to simply reply. I chuckled at Karol's puzzled expression.

"What? What does that mean…?" Karol finally managed to get out as he took a couple more breaths.

Yuri then turned his head towards Rita who was walking back up to us, she was just fine, not out of breath. Seriously, what just happened to everyone from a small few building blocks run from the inn to the front of Fortune's Market HQ? They can battle like there'll be no tomorrow, yet a small run makes them gasp for air… weird game logic once again.

"…He got away. I'll catch that bugger one of these days…" Rita got out poutily as she crossed her arms.

"You should leave him be. Going up against that kind of guy is just a waste of energy," Yuri told Rita, his head then turned to Estelle who suddenly decided to run up to us (She had just been staring at us from afar, so so weird), "You all right?"

"…Just let me… take a… little break," Estelle practically begged as she gasped for air. Seriously, why were they so damn weak right now?

"Sure, you can have a little one. Then we've gotta go," Yuri replied.

"Go? Go where?" Karol asked with an odd look. Even he could see how odd this was right now; we had just reserved a room for us for the night, we're all covered in salt, and we're hungry, why were we leaving like RIGHT NAO?

"We need to follow the Blood Alliance to get back the lower quarter's blastia," Yuri reminded him.

Estelle looked curious, her earlier fatigue all gone, "Did you get a lead on where to go next?"

"We heard that a shady group from a guild was headed to the northwest. It might be them," Yuri answered her.

Karol looked in thought, "To the northwest of here… the only city I can think of in that direction would be one that was destroyed in an earthquake."

Estelle just seemed more intrigued, "What could they want to do in a place like that?"

"Hmm. Good question," Yuri said as he looked in thought again.

"And yet you still want to go?" Rita asked with a pout, figuring this was a waste of time. If we told her, 'the dragon freak will be there' I bet she'd jump on board fired up and ready to go.

"I'm saying we should go and check it out," Yuri replied with a firm tone.

"Though right now?" I asked with a brow raised.

"After Estelle has her break," Yuri turned to me with a firm tone as well.

I felt myself twitch, he really has forgotten, but I grinned like I did with Raven and decided to just spit out my problem in a subtle way, "Oh, well that's all well and good, but while you can live off the dew of a leaf and the endless supply of energy from the cosmos Mr. Universal Answer… aren't you forgetting something?"

"Huh?" Yuri just looked at me with a dumb wide-eyed look. I needed more clarity than subtlety...

"Kairi… bite his finger again…" I turned to Kairi, my expression completely dead pan now.

Kairi just turned red, "I-I'm NOT!" She argued loudly before her tummy rumbled just as loud causing her to cover her face in embarrassment, my own tummy grumbling in response.

"Yuri's going to turn into a piece of turkey in a matter of minutes, and Kairi may collapse with another fever if she doesn't shower up and change," I replied, and Yuri got the big picture.

"Alright, I get it. Lets head back to the inn to eat and rest for tonight before we head out tomorrow," Yuri said seriously, but a smile was tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"Huzzah!" I shouted in victory, throwing my arms up as we all headed back to the inn to get a meal.

* * *

Once we returned to the inn, that guy was still there giving me and Yuri looks (Still didn't recognize us, yay!), and Caryn came out of her room to chill with us as we all ate some curry we ordered.

"Ya sure Flynn's chill with you hanging out with us?" I asked Caryn as we went into the room to hang out and have our usual 'girl talk' on the bed.

"Well… he thinks you and Yuri are bad influences, but we're friends so he can deal with it," Caryn grinned and giggled at Yuri suddenly pouting at being called a 'bad' influence.

I hid my giggles and returned to Caryn who was making groping hands at Kairi, no doubt she wanted to rub her down, "Easy there bitch, Kairi may be contagious."

"Really?!" Caryn asked me with hopeful eyes, I knew what she was thinking was contagious. Her gaze then returned to Kairi with a practical rape face, making Kairi hide behind me.

"I'm not contagious!" Kairi argued with a cute pout, that only made Caryn want to pounce on her more.

"Hey, I just remembered…" I turned to Karol, "Hey, baby boy!"

Karol turned to me with an odd look, "Huh? Me?"

"Yes you. You said you were pretty sure Fortune's Market has it's HQ here right?" I asked, of course I knew it was, I just need to be a noob for now.

"Yeah," Karol answered.

I slammed my head into the wall, earning odd looks all around.

"L-Liana?! Are you alright?" Estelle asked in pure concern.

"Ugh, Nah I'm good, just hitting myself for being stupid and remembering that just now…," I said rubbing my forehead.

"And just why are you hitting yourself?" Karol said with his 'are you stupid' tone and his odd eyebrow raised look.

"Cause it's getting late, Kairi and I still gotta go shower up, and I should've checked first thing on if Justin is here, and if he's figured anything," I answered.

"Justin?" Karol asked oddly.

(Did I ever bring up Justin to him and Rita? I forget, or maybe I did and they forgot… memory sucks, I need a new memory stick installed in my brain… ) I nodded, "Yeah, friend of mine, he got sent here to this planet also, but he's traveling with Fortune's Market as a bodyguard."

"Ya don't say…" Karol replied, though Caryn freaked out, "JUSTIN IS HERE?!"

I blinked dumbly, "Did I not ever bring that up?"

"We really didn't get to hang out at Nor cause you ran off, and Kairi was sick, she said nothing," Caryn deadpanned, "If she did, I don't think I recall after all her random mutterings…"

I shrugged, "Well in any case, Kairi and I gotta shower. I'll show you the password to my phone, so you can hear some music…. But don't show any of these guys the password or give them my phone, I rather they not break it…" I turned to give the pouting gang an 'I mean it' look, I knew Rita'd want to play with my phone galore if she figured that password, and the last thing I needed her discovering a way to make the Apps work without WIFI, internet, or signal, especially my Tales of Asteria App.

I showed Caryn the password and she immediately began to flip through my music, "Damn, how many covers of Lost Ones Weeping do you need? Geez, same for some others, lordy!"

"It's my fave, what can I say? Anyways, be right back, gonna get this hair cleaned and change," I shrugged as I grabbed Kairi from the back of her dress, dragging her along as I began to head into the bathroom. I put two fingers to my eyes and pointed them out at everyone to say, 'I'm watching you' even from the bathroom!

As we showered up, I heard the room door open, some mumbling going on, then I could hear Lost Ones Weeping and hummed along as Kairi had showered before me and was now soaking in the tub filled with hot water. I scrubbed my head with shampoo as I heard a knock on the bathroom door and Caryn shout, "You never sent these or put these videos up on Facebook for me to see the baby! You never even said when your niece had her baby! You just said you'd post the baby shower up on Facebook so I could see!"

I rolled my eyes, "I forgot! With College going on it slipped my mind to tell you when Anna Leia was born! (I dunno how to spell her name, I forgot to ask… I just know it's got Anna and Leia sounds in it….)"

She didn't respond, and instead I could hear mumbled "Awwws" from behind the door, Caryn must've been showing them the videos I took of the baby when she was being just too damn cute.

"Oh my god, she's so cute! I can't even!" I heard Caryn shout (Yep, watching those videos…). I rolled my eyes and hopped into the tub beside Kairi; Vesperia tubs are HUGE.

" _We need to hit the hay as soon as we dry off; that lobby guy will rat us out eventually tonight_ ," I turned to Kairi with a serious look.

" _Mhm, though try not to fall too deep into sleep, we're gonna need to wake up like stat_ ," she replied.

I nodded and we both quickly finished up and dried off and were met with a scene of the group gathered around Caryn peeking over her shoulder to see the phone, and Flynn was with her. Guess he came to pick her up and got side tracked with the phone.

"Looks like everyone's having a good time. If anyone else wants to shower up, now's your chance. And remember to turn off my phone Caryn," I said as Kairi and I got set to plop into bed, each of us on one side of the bed.

"You're going to sleep already?" Caryn said incredulously.

"Yep, being traumatized from a psycho and the abyss of the ocean, along with the near-death experience wiped me out," I said as I laid down, Kairi laid down too, only for us to realize… we didn't fit in the full-sized bed. Our hips and breasts were too big to allow us to sleep properly, plus that and we both tended to turn with a tiny roll in our sleep.

"Houston, we have a problem," I pouted as Kairi nodded and sat up along with me.

"What's up" Caryn asked, her head tilting to the side in confusion.

"This bed is too effin' small for the two of us to fit…" I whined, "And there's only 3 beds…"

"Why not one of you share the bed with either Rita, Karol, Yuri, or Pinky there?" Caryn suggested, I giggled when she refused to call Estelle by her name, Estelle seemed disappointed too as she pouted.

"I don't feel safe sleeping with Rita, and Estelle gives me the vibe that she might grope me in the middle of the night to compare chest sizes or just curiosity," I dead panned.

"I-I wouldn't do that!" Estelle said with pink cheeks. (Nice bluff…)

"… Yeah, still not comfortable with that… If I shared the bed with Yuri, Flynn may add the charge of sexual harassment and sexual deviant to my tab due to his image of me being a villain," I chuckled at the blondes response.

"I can't add charges without evidence… though if you mind, a man and a woman shouldn't share a bed together unless they are legally wedded," Flynn chimed in, slightly fuming that I dare suggest to sleep with Yuri.

"So that leaves baby boy~ I'll take that gladly," I grinned teasingly as Flynn grew more flustered.

"Such indecency!" Flynn began to say and I glared at him.

"Oh? You're insinuating I'd do something to him? You got a sick mind Mister Scifo, baby boy is precious and that's that, and nothing more," I said seriously, glaring at him. I could put up with a lot of things… being considered a pedophile to someone precious to me or period is crossing the line.

A thought then hit me as Flynn mustered up to perhaps apologize, perhaps keep fighting, but I grinned at Kairi with a devious grin, "Which leaves Kairi to sleep with Yuri~ Cause I'm sure Rita isn't safe for her and Estelle may grope her too."

Rita finally spoke up, "And just how am I dangerous?"

"I woke up with you practically in my face with computer screens, I was panicking you may have carved out my kidney…" I deadpanned as Caryn giggled at that. Rita once again went silent as Estelle protested she wouldn't.

"That arrangement isn't possible!" Flynn argued at me.

"Oh? Why not? Kairi's innocent, she wont go feeling up Yuri, she's not a deviant, there's nothing to worry about," I said cheerfully as Kairi's face had gone red and her mouth ajar, unable to find words to protest or defend herself.

"It's the other way around I'm worried about!" Flynn protested, which made Caryn laugh, her ears were wiggling and that made me laugh. Flynn just kept arguing, "I'm being serious here, she is innocent and kind, Yuri's a bad influence, and while he may not be a bad man, he's still a man and temptations when a man and a woman are under the sheets is very possible! And Miss Kairi being so innocent might not realize what's happening and then if he-!"

"Hey!" Yuri cut him off, his eyes wide at his friend's panicking rant against him, "I haven't said that anyone is sleeping with me. I'll sleep on the floor, that make you feel better?"

Flynn acknowledged Yuri's gaze, and nodded, "Alright, well then, Caryn, we need to be on our way."

"You're leaving already?" Estelle asked incredulously.

"Yes, I'm afraid I still have my duties to attend to," Flynn answered.

"And I'll let you know if I find anything out about how to get home," Caryn said to me as she turned my phone off and handed it to me. I simply nodded in response and waved as the two left.

"Alright then, time to get some shut eye I guess. We need to head out tomorrow to, or we may lose the trail to the core thief," Yuri replied as he gathered some sheets to sleep on the ground.

"Uhm… I don't mind … if we share the bed, really…" Kairi managed to muster up to say, her cheeks pink, but not looking at Yuri directly to avoid him seeing her flush.

"Seriously?" Rita said as though Kairi had lost her mind.

"Nah, I'm good, plus, Flynn might kill me if he decided to walk back in and saw us," Yuri said as he laid out the sheets and pillow on the ground.

I giggled as I saw Kairi's expression turn to a pout, and before I knew it, as Yuri was busy grabbing a blanket to cover himself with, Kairi snatched the blanket out of his hands, "Huh What's – Whoa!"

Kairi shoved Yuri on the bed with both hands pretty hard, making his feet go on the bed a bit.

"Hey, what's the big id-," Yuri began to argue, until an index finger was in view pointing at his nose, a large serious pout on Kairi's face, her cheeks tinged a tiny bit pink, but it seemed all but gone, "LAY DOWN!"

She shouted so loud, I stared in awe as Yuri obeyed her every word with wide eyes, Kairi never shouts at Yuri… except for that one time she got sick, I wondered what the heck was going on with her.

"STAY!" She commanded Yuri, as he nodded dumbly, and stared in stupor as she laid down on the ground and covered herself, trading sleeping spots with the swordsman.

"…" Yuri just stared at her blankly now, everyone was staring at her. I was surprised no one came knocking on our door to be silent. Yuri just sighed before talking, "Fine… we can share the bed."

Kairi immediately stiffened up and I knew her previous bravado was gone. She was possibly melting or unconscious right now, but she got up slowly and carefully got everything from the floor and went to the bed. She avoided contact with Yuri's eyes and laid on the edge of the bed turning away from Yuri. She was being pretty bold, I figured she'd have just said 'No thanks! I'm fine here!'… but this, gotta give her points for taking it.

" _Kairi? You okay there? First you boss him around, now you're melting… you testing out the Tsundere card or what?_ " I asked her with an odd look as I dragged baby boy to bed with me. Rita and Estelle were in bed already, but Estelle seemed to pout at the sight of Yuri and Kairi sharing the bed (Hey, you didn't vote against it or volunteer as tribute, your loss girl).

" _Uhhhbbbuuhhh duh… pllbbbb….._ " was the only response I got from her. Yup, euphoria and embarrassment had just destroyed her brain…

I shrugged as Karol struggled in my arms and I pet his hair and let him go. I smiled and softly told him before I drifted off to sleep, "Good night there, baby boy."

* * *

I had been sleeping for what felt like hours, until what I figured arrived, "Is the wanted man and woman really hiding in here?"

Yup, time to wake up. I snapped awake, Yuri was still asleep, hopefully he wakes up at the proper dialogue cue, or else I gotta wake everyone up. That's when I noticed…

"I'm sure. I thought I'd seen them somewhere before. And then I spotted the wanted posters, I immediately knew it was them," the lobby guy said from behind the door. Baby boy had somehow undone the front buttons of my dress and was laying down face first in between my boobs…

"That room up ahead, hmm… All right. You stand back," I heard the knight say approaching our door.

"Yes, of course," the lobby guy said. And cue Yuri, he jolted up, but stopped from jolting completely and I had to hide my giggles. Kairi was snuggled up against Yuri's chest, his arm was around her protectively, yet holding her to him. Kairi must've rolled in her sleep to Yuri's chest and Yuri smelling her sweet almond honey scented hair must've pulled her closer, holding her against him unknowingly.

He turned and saw I was awake, then his eyes went wide at the sight of Karol between my mostly exposed breasts. He then turned down to Kairi and softly shook her, asking her to wake up.

"Mmmm, huh?" Kairi said as she rubbed her eyes. Blinking up at Yuri, trying to get focused…. Her cheeks turned red and she gasped, "Huh?!"

Yuri quickly clamped his hand on her mouth and motioned with a finger to his lips for her not to shout like she usually did when she got embarrassed. She stared for a bit, then nodded and he let her go, he then turned to me and with a wave of his head, motioned for me to wake up Rita.

"Hey, wake up!" Yuri silently shouted towards Karol.

"Not too much milk on my cereal...no, it'll get soggy..." Karol sleepily replied, but stayed asleep.

"And just where is that milk being provided from?!" I silently teased yet fussed as I moved Karol off me and slowly and quietly went to wake up Rita, "Rita, ssshhh, get up, we're in trouble…"

"Mmm...what do you want? It's the middle of the night!" Rita argued back.

I waved my hands and tried to hush her, but the two men behind the door caught her attention, "The wanted man and women have four friends with them. They've also got a dog, so be careful."

Though Repede is outside, cause this inn was picky compared to Nor( Though taxes was costing them, so I doubt adding a dog to the bill like an extra human was a good money call)… they don't let animals in here though, "An Imperial Knight won't be beaten by the likes of a common criminal!"

Rita got the picture, and began shaking Estelle and looking over at Karol, she silently shouted, "Estellise! Kid! Wake up, you two!"

"I said wake up, Karol! We have to get out of here!" Yuri silently shouted, finally waking up Karol and making sure he kept silent as Rita kept Estelle silent.

Yuri opened the window up top on his bed, for someone as small as most of us, it was a problem to climb up to it even with stepping on the bed, but Yuri grabbed Kairi, who grabbed her bag and lifted her up to the window to climb through it. We passed along our belonging to her and then Yuri began helping us all out the window.

"Geez Liana, you really need to lay off the sweets," Yuri said silently as he lifted me, despite having no trouble, he still poked fun at my weight… I merely pulled his hair in retaliation as I finally made it out the window. Yuri finally climbing through too as we all ran through the alley way and out to the front of the shopping area, definitely not gonna sitck around to hear their 'They got away' dialogue.

"Wh-What was that all about?" Estelle said out of breath (Oh come on… the alley wasn't that long).

"It looks like somebody snitched on us," Yuri said normally.

"Now we'll get nuttin' for Christmas," I chimed in as the song 'I'm gettin nuttin' for Christmas' played in my head.

"Snitched? Christmas?" Karol said oddly.

"Forget it," I said, and I quickly jerked and looked towards the stairs to see a familiar costume that Yuri would eventually get, staring at us; he stared at me for a while until he decided to walk off.

Rita just pouted, "You're both just too well-known for your own good."

"Isn't guild influence really strong in Torim? Maybe that knight was overcompensating for how impotent he must feel," Yuri teased, he nudged me to get my attention and looked to where I was looking only for nothing to be there, to which I turned back with a sheepish grin and giggled, "Yeah, he had a stick up there alright."

"Liana, Yuri, that knight was just trying to do his job! I'd appreciate it if you kept your insults to yourself," Estelle fumed.

I rolled my eyes at her and crossed my arms, "Catching 'dangerous villains of the empire' right? I'm offended, and I won't accept any apology from you at all." I turned away from her after her eyes went wide with realization of what I got at, she didn't say anything else, but I had to imagine she was now sulking.

"Ugh… I'm never gonna be able to get a good night's sleep at this rate…" Karol whined.

I turned to him with a devious grin, "Says the boy who basically ripped opened my dress top in my sleep and was soundly asleep between my breasts…"

"H-Huh?! I didn't do that!" Karol argued, I only grinned harder, "I have a witness," I pointed at Yuri, "He can testify in my favor."

Yuri just grinned, "Well, at least we got away without getting caught, right? We can be happy about that."

"Happy? This is annoying as all hell! The next time we stay at an inn, you two can sleep outside with the dog!" Rita argued angrily.

I shrugged, and Yuri just sighed big time, but Repede joined us and we all decided to set up camp outside of town near the edge of the barrier to get moving tomorrow, but I recall a certain travelling inn that always welcomes us being a bit further down.

As we left the town I stared off into the distance and I could see the white faint image of the white carriage, "Hey guys! We might be in luck!"

"What is it?" Yuri asked as he looked to where I was gazing out at, "Hey, isn't that…. The traveling inn?"

"Sure looks like it, lets go check it out!" I shouted happily, it might not be a nice bed, but it was a bed none the least.

"Ugh, so long as I can sleep I'm good," Karol complained.

And with that we hit up the traveler's inn after a good 30 minute run. We paid and crashed in the back of the carriage, I don't think I had ever had a more fulfilling sleep.

* * *

Ugh, college is over, and I actually… actually have a summer vacation… Though I still need to apply for the educator's program and things during summer if I can pass my Accuplacer…

Caryn: So we're gonna be coming up on Heliord soon~ Whooo hoo, more me and Flynn time X3

You're not the star of this fic!

Justin: Yeah, it's Kairi.

No! It's me! ME! And the Vesperia people…. But Kairi's the star of the Drabbles… unless it's Caryn, I don't get reviews saying who they like more…

Caryn: It's obviously gonna be me with how you said you wanted to plan this fic out. If anyone'd read the drabbles as they come out, it'll be a while until they see anything with Kairi that's romance or cute.

Well… I guess you may be right, but for right now, I promised to do drabbles for the chapters made to fill in gaps when we got to Caer Bocram, but we're just about there, so gonna work on the drabbles now. I'm gonna try to cut them up into smaller segments, but I can't guarantee that it wont mean there's gonna be like 10+ drabbles if I do that…

Caryn: For the drabbles to have more than the actual story would be pretty sad, just make it decent but not like chapter length long.

Gotcha, no 10k word drabbles, I gotta do this!

Next Time: Caer Bocram and Nan…(After the drabbles are done).


	19. 18: The randomly destroyed city

To those following this story… Thank you SO MUCH QwQ , but if you aren't following the drabbles that go along with this story, you WILL get lost XD lolz (The drabbles contain hidden content, or missing POVs and pieces to the main story here, so follow and read that too 😊 )

Please remember, ( ) parenthesis are MY thoughts, _italics are telepathic talk between me and Kairi_

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Tales of Vesperia, Justin, or Caryn. I DO have permission to use Justin and Caryn though. I OWN myself, Kairi, and my work in this fic. That is all….

* * *

"Holy shit…" I managed to get out as I stared at this fucking huge waterfall by the bridge. I wasn't sure if Earth had any waterfalls this size back at home. Though as I took pictures I began to wonder (If I recall… there's an aer krene behind the water fall… so where's ALL that water coming from?).

I let the thought go as everyone appreciated the waterfall for a bit, until Yuri reminded us we were in a hurry cause we were behind on chasing that lead Raven gave us on the 'Blood Alliance'.

We had gone through crab man's, sorceresses, thieves, and basilisk galore to get here, hell Kairi even tried teaching me a bit on how to put aer into my sheeps… didn't go so well; so, couldn't we at least enjoy the damn view? We had walked along the mountain ridge after biding farewell to Karen and Rich, because trying to walk back on the path would've taken longer.

Just as we crossed the bridge, the sky darkened, and it looked about to rain. I tried to find our umbrellas, but I couldn't recall where I had put them fast enough as it poured down on us.

"Let's rush into the forest along the path, the trees will be able to stop some of the rain," Yuri suggested quickly as he turned to Kairi and all of us. Must be worried about Kairi getting sick again.

And just like that we dashed into the forest, I almost figured we were gonna be lost after some Tortoises popped up, but good old Repede kept the direction of the trail for us. We followed the path, keeping within the trees to avoid majorly soaking, until the familiar scene of ruins showed up. Good grief, if only Sorey and Mikleo could be here, they'd go nuts! Or better yet, the Shrine of Baction would get them real excited!

We stepped out of the cover of the trees to examine the ruins, Yuri sticking to dialogue and seeming to forget about his earlier concern on Kairi getting sick.

"Man, this place is a total wreck," Yuri said as he looked around.

"Do you seriously think anybody would come to a place like this?" Rita said in a know it all way.

(Well… the Hunting Blades sure would :P ) I giggled, "Well we came to this place, didn't we? Guess that makes us 'anybody'."

Yuri looked amused but put his hand on his hip like he normally does when he talks, "I wonder if we've been fed some false information again."

"Ugh, probably… that stuff doesn't go down so easily…" I said, earning me a funny grin from Yuri.

Everyone now turned to Yuri, Karol giving him an odd look, "Again…?"

"That's far enough! This area is under the jurisdiction of the Hunting Blades!" A girl's voice shouted, and boy was Karol shocked and excited, "That voice…?!"

Karol looked around until he found her, atop one of the ruined buildings, still spouting rules, "These measures have been taken to prevent the injury of innocent bystanders."

"Nan!" Karol shouted excited as he ran up to better see her, "All right! I finally found you!"

She however, did not look so happy to see him…

"Are the chief and Tison with you? Have you guys been getting along okay without me?" Karol said in a cheerful tone… though…

I struck Yuri's pose with my hand on my hip, giving him an awkward grin. Asking if someone has been getting along alright without you is kinda…. How to say… disrespectful in some ways, especially since it was obvious she was alright.

"Don't take that buddy-buddy tone with me," Nan sassed at him angrily.

Karol just kept up his cocky, cheerful tone and speech, "Aw, don't be like that. I only got a little lost."

I kinda frowned, I know he's just trying to look good in front of us, but I couldn't tell if it was all because he wanted us all to like him, or because he deeply was believing that he doesn't run away. Like in the manga, he continually denies that he runs away, and refuses to accept that he does… he wont start seeing this until after everything here.

Nan just rolled her eyes at him, and spoke harshly, "A little lost? That's a good one! You know you just ran away!"

"I didn't run away, I swear!" Karol shouted back a bit peeved.

(Yep, he fully believes that when he runs, he isn't running… Baby boy, you're gonna grow up a bit after today…)

"Still making excuses, huh?" Nan sassed, seriously, they were arguing like a big sister and little brother… I cannot SHIP!

"It's not an excuse! I beat an eggbear, just like I said I would!" Karol argued back.

"More lies," Nan said, her expression uncaring now… yeah, big sister vibe is gone, she's just now a tiny bitch who needs to grow up.

"I-I mean it!" Karol replied with a huge pout.

Nan just looked bored now, "Is this how you repay being taken in by the Hunting Blades…? Remind me who it was that said, 'I swear I won't run away this time.' You always run and hide at the first sign of trouble. You've been kicked out of every guild in the book."

I glared at her, that was a low blow to bring up something that sensitive about a 'friend' in front of their other friends.

Karol just flailed his arms in anger and frustration, "Shut up! You shut your mouth!"

And here comes the dagger…

"…Hah! Even we've already fired you!" Nan scoffed cockily.

"W-Wait!" Karol shouted in frustration.

Nan just went on with her rules, "You have been warned by the Hunting Blades! Leave this area at once! If you fail to heed this warning, you do so at the risk of your own lives."

Yeah my hormones kicked in… she couldn't just pick on Baby Boy like that and just run off!

"LIKE WE GIVE A FUCK TINY TITS!" I shouted and pointed up at her angrily.

"What did you just call me?!" Nan turned to me angrily.

"DID I STUTTER TINY TITS?! I CAN'T VERY WELL CALL YOU A TINY BITCH DUE THAT PAIR YOU OBVIOUSLY HAVE IN YOUR PANTS! AND SO HELP ME IF YOU CLAMP THAT HAND OVER MY MOUTH YURI LOWELL I WILL SHAVE YOU BALD!" I shouted angrily, even more so when I noticed Yuri walking over to me with an extended arm.

He gave me a wide-eyed look and backed off as Nan continued to glare at me, I'm pretty sure her guild's rules are against 'injuring innocent bystanders', so that was the only reason she wasn't charging me now, but at Temza when we 'ally with a monster' that's not being an 'innocent bystander'.

"Baby Boy never lied about that egg bear, albeit he didn't take it down on his own! He had help, but that's what team members are for! To pour salt in a wound is a low blow that only a bitch would pull! You obvious don't know what the purpose of combat was originally for! I won't even bother to pity you…and also," I glared at her harshly before smothering Karol in my breast earning a wide-eyed look from her as if I just stolen her boyfriend. Ah, that look gave me so much satisfaction, I stopped glaring to give her a devilish grin, "I don't approve of you for him anymore, besides, Baby Boy~ prefers them big! Like last night, when he practically ripped opened my top to smother himself between my generous bosom~"

Karol now turned a steaming bright red, "I-I did not!"

"Your face was practically buried in her chest when I woke up and saw you Karol…" Yuri backed me up with a devious smirk now, enjoying the brotherly teasing.

"…You're kidding…" Karol said incredulously and shakily, expecting Yuri to reply with his usual 'I am' response.

"I'm not," Yuri replied honestly. Rita, Estelle, and Kairi gave Karol shocked expressions as though to say they wouldn't be sharing a bed with him at all.

Nan looked absolutely appalled, her mouth wide opened, unable to find words to even sass back; so she just huffed, turned around and ran off. Score 1 for team Big Jugs!

"Nan!" Karol shouted after her as he saw her run away from between my breast. Once she was out of sight, he just seemed to slouch in my arms. Seriously, he could do SO MUCH BETTER than that bitch. He just needs to find the right girl, someday.

"Cheer up, baby boy. You'll always have my boobs to cushion you," I said as I squeezed his head in my boobs harder to snap him out of his stupor, if even temporarily. It worked as he flailed like his usual self.

"This still doesn't explain what the Hunting Blades are doing here," Yuri said pointing out the obvious.

"Good point," Rita said as she walked on ahead, Kairi following her as support.

"Oh, wait for me~" I said, as I let go of Karol, allowing him to gasp for air as I chased after the two.

Estelle quickly was the first to panic, "Rita, Kairi, Liana, wait. Are you forgetting about the warning?"

"She never said we weren't allowed to enter," Rita replied.

"Loopholes, gotta love them~," I replied happily.

"But what about the 'risking our lives' part?" Estelle said panicked.

Rita looked a bit upset, but scoffed, "Are you implying that I should listen to that brat? Don't make me laugh."

"I've nearly been murdered by a psycho twice, a giant dog monster thing, and almost drowned on a boat. The risking my life warnings aren't affective on me at all; besides, I gotta agree with Rita, I'm not about to listen to some tiny bitch who's like half my age or less. I'm an adult, I'll make my own choices thank you very much," I said to Estelle with a huff as I had both hands on my hips, bending towards her with a 'seriously?' expression.

"At any rate, the Blood Alliance doesn't seem to be here. Let's have a look around," Yuri suggested, I had to wonder if the reason he wanted to look around was to find out why the Hunting Blades were here, or to still see if he could find any clues on the Blood Alliance, or just game logic… sticking with my bet on game logic, gotta get that tutorial for Fatal Strikes from somewhere~.

We all began to head in, Yuri and I turned to notice Karol still staring at the spot where Nan was standing. He turned to us with a sad look, but ran towards us to catch up, not wanting to be left behind as we all decided a good peak around was worth it. Believe me it was, my treasure senses were tingling~.

* * *

-*- Karol, Fired -*-

Karol: Man…why did it have to end up like this… They said… they said I was f-f-fired…

Estelle: Karol, keep your spirits up!

Karol: I can't be happy anymore… It's like her words are a dagger in my heart…

Yuri: She was just worried it'd be too dangerous for you. There's still hope.

Liana: GAH! I'm still not approving of her for him though! He's going to be a great man someday, he deserves better and can do SO MUCH BETTER, believe me!

Yuri/Estelle/Rita/Karol: !

Kairi: *sweat drop* She's gone into mama bear mode…

Karol: Huh? Y-you think so?! …Uh, whatever. I don't care about what she thinks!

Liana: *smirks* Attaboy! See?! You're learning about how to play it cool already~

Yuri: The problem is your guild, right? I get it.

Karol: R-right, yeah. I don't care about Nan…

Rita: This hurts to watch.

Estelle: I'm rooting for you, Karol.

Liana: That's right! Team Big Jugs is on your side!

Everyone: ?!

* * *

-*- Team What? -*-

Estelle: L-Liana?

Liana: Hm?

Estelle: Why are we called Team Big Jugs…?

Liana: Huh? Oh, would you prefer Nation Wide or State Farm?

Estelle: Huh?

Kairi: Uh, we aren't an insurance company Liana…

Liana: I was just thinking about the jingle, you know 'Nation Wide is on your side~' or 'Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there~'.

Kairi: ! Please don't let a random person pop out of no where…

Yuri: Huh? A random person?

Estelle/Liana/Kairi: AH!/HOLY SHIT!/KYA!

Yuri: Whoa! Didn't mean to scare anyone, sorry.

Liana: Geez Yuri, I could've died from a heart attack… literally… then I'd have to call Allstate…

Yuri: Allstate?

Liana: Mhm, 'are you in good hands?'

Yuri: ?

Kairi: *face palm*

* * *

-*- Team Big Jugs~ -*-

Estelle: Um, so, Liana… why are we called Team Big Jugs again?

Liana: Seriously, why is it bothering you so much? I got two big jugs, Kairi's got two big jugs~

Estelle: !

Liana: Rita has jugs, Flynn has jugs, even Yuri has jugs~!

Yuri: Huh? Me?! What jugs?

Liana: Ara? You don't remember? Flynn's room, he had one on his desk. Rita had lots of them in her house too. The hotel bathroom had one too as did the living room, so if it's common… I'll damage my image to assume you got one in your place too Yuri.

Yuri: Huh? But seriously what ju- Oh… I see. *smirks* Yeah, I got one.

Estelle: H-Huh? B-But Yuri doesn't even have…!

Liana: Hm? I'm talking about those big water jugs, I dunno if you guys call them pitchers here. Flynn had one on his desk in his room, Rita had lots scattered about, even Karen and Rich had one, so I assumed Yuri at least had one… so it's a pretty common item. What kind of jugs were you thinking about?

Estelle: *blushes and walks away*

Liana: She seriously is obsessed with comparing breasts… it's weird.

Yuri: Uh huh…

* * *

-*- Doesn't Seem Like an Earthquake -*-

Estelle: Was this town really destroyed by an earthquake? The buildings all look kind of strange…

Yuri: Yeah. They don't look like they collapsed from the ground shaking… Something's weird.

Karol: Yeah, so… how were they destroyed, then?

Liana: Hmmm… *mumble* that never was fully explained either… I think, though PS3 was in Japanese, so not like I understood A LOT of it... *mumble*

Yuri: Got me. Maybe we can find out by asking someone who used to live in the town.

Rita: That's not really where we're here though, so why should we care?

Yuri: You actually have a point there.

Liana: (Didn't this place belong to some Guild Karol said? Was it Siren's Fang or whatever Aifread's guild was called… maybe they were destroyed in the Black Hope incident? This can't be Raven's home town, right… that wasn't guild run… so then… Ugh, my brain… my stupid Vesperia needs and closure issues are kicking in! I need to know, I want to know DX )

* * *

"What sort of blastia is this…?" Karol asked as we came upon the warp blastia.

Rita fumed as she walked over, the usual when a blastia is involved, "Hey, get your grubby mitts off it!"

After a quick analysis, Rita had the answer, "Of course… It's slightly different from the norm, but it looks like a type of warp blastia. Its activating mechanism is… Let's see… Huh…?"

"What's the matter?" Yuri asked as Rita looked stunned.

"…There's no activation switch!" Rita shouted as she turned to him, "It's properly equipped with a core, and it doesn't look like it's the type where you can activate it by removing the core."

"So maybe there's an activation switch located somewhere else?" Estelle brought up.

"Perhaps… Id there were another blastia like this one in this town," Rita began to think, "It wouldn't be too unusual for there to be some device to manage all of them at once."

"Oh, so we can't activate it then? Too bad…" Yuri said a bit disappointed.

"Huh? Why is it too bad?" Karol asked curiously.

"Nah, I just had a hunch it would lead to something interesting…" Yuri answered, and I nodded, "Yeah, it does have the word warp in the name…*sigh*"

"Blastia isn't a toy, you know!" Rita shouted frustrated at Yuri and me which made me stick my tongue out at her in boredom, I wasn't in the mood for one of her 'blastia' lectures.

"Couldn't we just look for the device that's managing it?" Estelle brought up to keep the three of us from getting into a fight with each other.

"Yes…" Rita replied, calming down. Yuri just rolled his eyes a bit, "Sure, maybe we could find it…"

"I vote, find it! Cause I want to warp!" I shouted eagerly earning a harsh gaze from Rita, screw her, blastia is kinda like a toy, just that it's a danger to the world kinda toy…

With that we all just headed along towards the area where the device is, fighting Thornwigles, Strange Bats, Spikkits, and Howlers along the path. Seriously, I can see now why my mom just complained on how this game is just 'pure fighting', though we did get some rest occasionally… and good pay!

* * *

-*- The Hunting Blades –*-

Estelle: What do the Hunting Blades mainly do, as a guild?

Karol: Like their name says, they make their living hunting monsters.

Yuri: It's not like there's any shortage of monsters once you're outside the barriers. Business must be booming.

Karol: Yeah, they definitely get a lot of commissions. But the Hunting Blades aren't killing monsters just because someone asked them to. Monsters are evil. This evil must be punished. That's the creed of the Hunting Blades.

Liana: *mumbles* ... Not all are evil though...

Yuri: I wonder if any of them are doing it just for their own personal grudges against monsters.

Karol: Oh yeah. A lot of people. Like, Nan's parents were killed right before her eyes when she was a kid.

Yuri: Huh. It'd be hard not to hold a grudge after something like that.

Liana: *pout* Still not letting her have him!

Yuri: !

* * *

-*- Estelle, the Historian -*-

Estelle: Wow… These buildings are from the late Ellicasm civilization! It must be a very old town.

Yuri: You seem to know a lot about these things… as always.

Estelle: It's such a shame they just let the city fall apart like this…

Rita: Do you really think we're in any position to be sightseeing around this moldy old city?

Yuri: We do have things we need to be doing…

Rita: Then shouldn't we be focusing on them instead of this little tour?

Estelle: Oh wow… That round roof is using the Lian method, first developed by emperor Heliorus IV!

Rita: But I guess we should do something about that first…

Yuri: Yeah.

Liana: Ugh, I much rather have Sorey's ruin mania that Estelle any day…

* * *

Once we reached the end, the door was in our sights! Warp Blastia here we come~

"It looks like a dead end," Estelle spoke up as she looked around.

I slouched over… was she seriously blind, the door is right there…

"Should we head back? Or…" Yuri began to suggest as well. I gave him a dumb look earning an odd look from him. Was everyone here blind?

"Hold on, I'm going to have a look around," Karol suggested, despite being RIGHT IN FRONT of the damn door on the ground…

"Does anyone but me, seriously see the door on the ground?" I said as I pointed to the door, mentally exhausted at how stupid the game's logic could be at times.

At that everyone looked at where I was pointing in shock. Seriously… game seriously?

Karol knelt down and checked the door, "Weird, there's not a keyhole or anything…"

"Really…?" Yuri asked as he walked over towards the door, prepared to kick it open.

Karol of course gloated, "Yuri, an amateur like you would never be able to open a door like –"

One kick was all it took for the door to swing open, dust pouring out and about due to the sheer amount on the door due to centuries of no use.

"What the…?" Karol said in shock.

Yuri jus smirked at him, "I wouldn't want Captain Karol to dirty his hands on such a filthy door!"

I giggled along with Kairi at his obvious teasing, despite it was also a way to cheer up Karol and make him feel important.

Karol scratched the back of his head, kinda embarrassed with the turn of events and the teasing flattery, "Oh, uh, r-right, ah hah hah…"

Rita just let out a HUGE sigh at the scene. She was so not interested.

"Well, shall we?" Karol asked Yuri as he began to get set to go down the ladder.

Yuri of course decided to tease a bit more as I walked over and peared over Karol's shoulder into the room.

My eyes widened… Black.. pitch black… it was soooo dark in there it wasn't funny. I began to tremble a bit as Yuri teased Karol, "Wouldn't it be crazy if a monster just gobbled up your foot right now? Just a giant munch , and oops, no more foot."

Karol fell back on his butt, "Wah, waaaaahh…!"

I stiffened up, the memory of the boat sinking into the abyss like arms puling it down etched into my mind. The thought of something down there despite knowing there wasn't supposed to be anything down there. Yet knowing things have been changing… so there might be. I felt my eyes sting a bit and my tummy lurch… I was shaking like a leaf… I couldn't go down there. No way was I going down there…

"Heh, looks fine to me. Let's go inside," Yuri suggested as he grinned over at Karol.

"What am I, your test dummy?!" Karol shouted with a pout on his face.

I just shook and said almost silently, "I'll wait out here. I'm not going down there…"

Kairi just looked at me sadly, she knew I wasn't joking right now. I was shit terrified, I'd prefer fighting a group of thornwigles and spikkits alone rather than go into that small dark room with everyone after that joke.

"Hm? C'mon, we're all going down there, so it's not too bad. If you stay up here, you'll end up swamped by monsters," Yuri said as a matter of factly.

"I'll take that chance…" I mumbled enough for everyone to hear.

Though Yuri wasn't having it, he walked over to me, "Take that chance? C'mon, it's just a room, there's nothing in it. We're all going to be there together, it's not like you're going in alone."

My hormones spiked, I glared harshly at Yuri before my hand made contact with his cheek as hard as I could muster. I knew then that I had did a bad thing, and I knew he didn't do anything wrong, but my anger and frustration for once, I couldn't hold it. I wasn't joking around, I DID NOT want to go down there. Screw if spikkits and thornwigles tore me to shreds, I was not going down in that room!

"Gah!" Yuri shouted as he squatted down and held his cheek from the stinging pain of my slap. Kairi and Estelle both at his side healing him up, "What the hell was that for?!"

I just turned away, my anger boiling, "Cause you can be a jackass at times! I already said I'm not going into that room!" I shook and almost felt like fainting, my energy level was going up, my energy level was going down in a wacky roller coaster ride. My adrenaline and hormones were powering me up and at the same time wearing me down, as I slightly hyperventilated due to the outburst of adrenaline due to anger and fear.

"Y-Yuri," I heard Kairi begin speaking softly, "I-I'll stay behind too… would that be okay then?"

There was just awkward silence, I had to wonder what face everyone was making. Though I heard a shuffle of feet as Yuri stood up from squatting on the ground holding his cheek, "Alright, we'll be quick so stay put. If monsters show up, don't fight them, just call us quickly, okay? Do not try to fight them yourselves."

"Mhm, I promise," I heard Kairi say softly as I heard her footsteps come over beside me. I could hear everyone else's footsteps heading towards the door as I heard someone go down the ladder. Soon I was hearing everyone go down there, Kairi and I were left in peaceful silence.

"You okay?" Kairi asked worried, she knew why I flipped out.

I pouted big time, "Stupid asshole bringing up my stupid trauma all because of a stupid room for a stupid device."

Kairi merely sweat dropped as she grinned awkwardly, "I'll take that as a no…"

"Hmmm," I said in thought as I turned to the building next to us. It was inaccessible in the game, but now that this is reality, we could try to get in to get out of this rain. I seriously needed to, a soaked wet pamper was NOT the best thing in the world, it's worse than soaked wet panties. Not to mention… I was beginning to get my cramps and I had to pee…

"Hey, Kairi," I turned to the small girl with a bored look, "lets take shelter in there. We can look for the umbrellas and I can change and take some Midols while we're at it and I hope there's a bathroom." I pointed to the building, which earned me a wide-eyed look from Kairi.

"We can't, I promised Yuri," Kairi said with a huge serious pout.

I merely ignored her and headed towards the building merely replying back to her, "Well, suit yourself, but you're gonna catch another cold if you stay there. I didn't promise him nothing so I'm going in."

"B-But… but!" Kairi began to protest, but she knew she'd get sick again if she didn't change. She gave in once I opened the door, "Oh! I'm coming, hold up!"

I turned to see her clapping her hand together, looking towards the underground room the others were in and mouthing an apology before she turned to run towards me.

Once in I set my bag down for Kairi to search through it for the missing umbrellas while I looked for the bathroom. I found it and was a bit relieved but upset… why? It was one of those squatting Japanese style restrooms, which was good cause I didn't want to sit my ass on a moldy toilet anyways… but it was pissing me off cause I was never good at squats or holding them… odds of me ending up on my ass on this moldy floor was pretty high… but, oh well..

Once my business was done, to which I was happy I didn't fall over, and my legs weren't too bad; I changed my pamper… still bleeding heavy, I couldn't switch to Pad and Panties just yet… darn it! Though if I wanted stainless panties, it had to be done…

Kairi managed to find one umbrella and was still looking for the others when I stomped over and yanked my bag out of her hands, "Move bitch! I need my Midols and Heating Pad!"

"Uhm… Liana… I don't think the heating pad is gonna work, there's no plugs here…" Kairi got out with a sweat drop.

I rolled my eyes and showed her my plan as I drank down 2 Midols. I pulled out my satin body pillow and laid down on it to support my body as I fiddled inside my bag. I carefully plugged in my heating pad in a socket and was grateful the cord to it was SO FREAKING LONG! I pulled the pad out from the bag, the cord extended a good 2 feet from the bag, so I placed the bag beside me and placed the pad on my stomach, reached into the bag and clicked the button for MAX heat and just chillaxed as it started to heat up.

"What wasn't going to work?" I sassed back with a smirk at her.

She smiled awkwardly as some voices began calling us.

"Liana! Kairi! Where are you?! Answer me!" I heard Yuri shout loudly, though through the walls of the building, it was rater muffled.

"Kairi! Liana!" Estelle shouted next, concern was lacing her tone.

"Woof! Woof!" Repede barked frantically.

"Hey! Guys! Where'd you go?!" Karol shouted next, he didn't sound entirely so enthused. And no shout from Rita… of course, she was probably silently fuming and would explode later if we didn't show up within a certain amount of time.

Kairi began to panic as I just huffed and ignored his calls, enjoying my now max heat heating pad, my cramps were still hurting, it'd be a good 15-20 minutes till it stopped.

Kairi then stood up with her cheeks all puffed up at my lack of doing anything as Yuri's calls seemed to be getting further away. She opened the door, careful not to step out into the rain and began shouting, "We're over here! Over here!"

She must not have seen them, as she looked around, concern covering her face.

"Kairi?! Where are you?! Where's Liana?!" I heard Yuri shout, but it was definitely far away.

"We're over her-Hyaaaaaa!" Kairi began till she slammed the door extremely hard, spikes poking through the door causing her to step back and fall over on her ass. Apparently a Spikit thought it'd be funny to charge and lunge up at her. She stared at the door with wide eyes as the spikes began to move as the monster tried to free itself from the door, but was now hopelessly stuck.

"That was close…" Kairi sweat dropped as she slumped over on the floor from that burst of adrenaline.

"Hah!" we heard Yuri's voice as the spikes suddenly disappeared from the door. Guess he put it out of it's misery… nice.

The door then slammed opened causing Kairi to sit up straight, Yuri and the others running inside, "Are you two okay?"

Repede quickly ran to Kairi and was now rubbing his head against her as if in relief that she was okay.

I raised my eyebrow at Yuri saying that line first before Estelle, but then big brother mode kicked in.

He turned to Kairi with a strict look, "Why didn't you stay put like I said so?"

Kairi looked a bit crushed, "Uhhh… well… we… uhmmm…"

I rolled my eyes but gave Yuri that 'I'm seriously gonna fuck you up if you don't shut it' look, "Chill bro, seriously. She'll end up sick again just standing in the rain, I needed to change undergarments, I forgot my meds, I'm in pain…and I HAD TO PEE! IS THAT WHAT YOU WANTED TO KNOW?! So Chill!"

Yuri gave me a 'Too Much Info' (TMI) look and I was satisfied with my job.

Kairi sweat dropped again, "Ummm Liana… I think you need to chill more than all of us…"

Rita was now investigating my heating pad, but looked at me with interest as she now pulled up her computer screen thing, "Hmmm… well, her hormone levels are all off kilter that's for sure."

"NO DUH!" I pouted angrily as I flailed my arms like a child throwing a tantrum, "That's what Periods do! They make you want to kill things!"

At that Kairi just giggled uncontrollably, falling over on her side on the ground, until she shivered big time due to her wet clothing, her nose stuffed up a bit from the sound of her taking a deep breath.

"Uh oh," I said as I looked to Kairi, "Too late. She might be sick again."

"I-I'm not *sniff* I'm just… cold," Kairi said shivering now.

"Kairi, you should dry off and change quickly," Estelle said checking her over.

"*sniff* Uh… alright. I'll be right back," Kairi said sniffling due to her slightly runny nose. She grabbed her bag and headed into that bathroom I used to find a change of clothes… did she even have any spare clothes besides her Vindictus Morrigan cosplay dress?

"Well, that explains why you slugged Yuri back there," baby boy spoke up after Kairi was out of sight.

"Nah, that MoFo earned it," I said plain and simple with a poker face… why couldn't they have taken their sweet time turning on the generator? Is it really so bad to wish for some peace and quiet for a nice nap with a heating pad?

"Huh? I earned it?" Yuri said with a raised eyebrow.

I merely turned my head to him with an 'I don't give a fuck (IDGAF)' expression, "Yep *pop*"

Silence ensued due to the awkward scene and I just took the opportunity to lay back and enjoy the heat from the pad as we waited on Kairi. I still had to peak into my bag for the other umbrellas, so I turned to check for them while I kept the pad on my abdomen.

* * *

The heat on my pad had shut off due to the time limit it has to avoid 'burning' the user, I found all the umbrellas, and Kairi still hadn't come out of the bathroom… I put up my heating pad and pillow and sat up.

"Uh…Kairi? You okay in there?" I asked loudly as everyone began to give odd looks toward the bathroom door.

We got no response.

" _Kairi? You pass out in there?_ " I called telepathically.

" _Huh? No, just… I don't really have anything that won't make me stand out or would warm me up or wouldn't make me burn or get too cold…_ " was Kairi's simple response.

"… Okay…" I said aloud making everyone look at me.

"Um… Liana, is she okay? Does she need help?" Estelle asked, her tone filled with concern.

"Nah… just a fashion crisis. She doesn't have anything else that's not too hot or cold, and definitely not anything that wouldn't draw attention to her," I replied plainly.

"Oh. I wish I had brought some spare clothes from the-," Estelle began until I raised my hand to stop her from talking and spilling about the castle again.

"She has plenty, plus… no offense…your clothes won't fit her dimensions at all…she's just going to have to pick one that stands out, whether she likes it or not," I said that last bit a tad loudly so Kairi could hear. At that I heard shuffling around in the bathroom, I had to wonder if she was getting dressed already. Though as I turned to Estelle she had a bit of an offended pout due to my hidden insult on her body type.

The doorknob to the bathroom turned, and out came Kairi, making all our eyes glue on her, "S-Sorry for the delay… I… couldn't find anything else…"

My jaw almost dropped… she was wearing her Pearl Girl dress from Love Nikki Dress Up Queen! Where did she even pull that out from?! And her white brocade shoes and lunar ripple anklets, the qiuyong moon scarf circled around her like a painting of a Chinese goddess. She had the falling feather on the sides of her head the purple ribbons in it accenting the lavender of the dress nicely along with her lonely star necklace and touch of ice blue net gloves; her Star Parasol was in her hand along with some tarot cards? Though I bet with her mindset on not caring about the difference between Parasols and Umbrellas, it'll shield her from the rain regardless of it being a parasol.… (NOW THIS IS HOW A GODDESS SHOULD DRESS! GORGEOUSLY, ELEGANTLY, PURE…. It's not really sexy…but SEXY, AND COOL…. Unless it's winter then WARM!)

Estelle's eyes turned into stars, her excitement couldn't be contained, "Oh wow, Kairi! That dress is so pretty! I love the colors!"

"Wow, you really are some type of noble, aren't you?" Rita said turning away from Kairi, her cheeks a tinge pink.

"Uhm… no, I'm not," Kairi said, her cheeks pink in embarrassment. (Not a noble, but she might as well be considered the mother fucking princess of the universe considering who her father is…) Despite the embarrassment she kept stealing glances at Yuri to see his reaction… it wasn't really anything, just his usual poker face, these types of things aren't affective to Yuri… especially without Cat Ears. That made her a bit disheartened.

"And yet, you own something like that?" Yuri said curiously, an eyebrow raised.

"She got that for free though," I muttered to myself with my eyebrow raised. I had gotten that dress with my second day freebee single gacha pull. That was one thing I loved about the game is that the current permanent gachas that have 'beautiful' clothing gives a free pull every two days, the other two gachas were 1-2 free pulls daily; I'd gotten Kairi plenty of nice dresses thanks to those free pulls, and some events and packages I bought. Though I couldn't say that aloud to them.

Kairi seemed to realize she couldn't respond to it either, so she lowered her head and remained silent.

Yuri just seemed to let the subject go as he turned to all of us, "Well, let's have a look around. We have to find any clues or leads about the Blood Alliance."

I merely got up and dusted myself off as I passed out the umbrellas for us to use, the same as last time, only thing time Kairi had her own umbrella. We left out the building to go activate that warp blastia and get moving.

When Yuri hit the blastia with the sorcerer's ring, the crest appeared, but I took no note of it; honestly, I never cared much about the strihm, laitos, rockra, fleck, whatever the fuck crests were. Once it moved into position for use, Yuri began to investigate how to work it. There were three buttons on this one… of course I knew it was for left, forward, and right…

He stepped down to ask Rita about what he was supposed to do, but I was already curious and impatient. I stepped up on the platform and gave the buttons a good hard look. The directions were all in vesperian writing, so I tilted my head this way and that, and found which was for forward.

A grin filled my face as Kairi stepped on the platform too, wondering what I was doing.

Yuri finally took notice of our absence and turned to us, "Hey, you two. Don't go messing with anything on that thing yet."

"Hmmmm…" I said turning to stare at him blankly before turning back to the control panel, pressing the forward button, "Muffin Button…"

Quick as lighting, a bubble appeared around Kairi and me, to which she quickly grabbed my arm in her shock. We were quickly launched off the platform to the top of the cliff side, all the while Yuri shouting for us, but in the bubble, nothing could be heard.

On top of the cliff, I turned to the others who were shouting, "Are you two okay?!"

I turned around and began waving my arms madly like a kid in a candy store who couldn't decide on what to get cause you want it all, "BUBBLE TRAVEL IS THE FUTURE! LET'S GO AGAIN! LET'S GO AGAIN!"

At that I could swear I saw everyone down below sweat dropping as they came up one by one.

And thus… big brother Yuri gave us a strict rule on sticking together… or else no dinner…asshole…

* * *

-*- Built Like a Maze -*-

Estelle: *looking around* Hmmm, how interesting…

Karol: Estelle looks as interested in cities as always…

Yuri: Estelle! C'mon, let's stick together!

Liana: That's right! Or no dinner for you!

Estelle: I'm fine!

Yuri: The buildings are run-down, its overgrown, and this place is seriously built like a maze…

Estelle: *wanders off*

Rita: With all these obstacles in the way, its pretty tough to go where you want to go.

Liana: *smirk* That's why obstacles are meant to be climbed over and overcome~ Ne, Kairi?

Kairi: *turns away blushing a bit* I-I wouldn't know…

Karol: Huh…? Estelle?!

Yuri/Rita/Kairi: !

Estelle: *comes back* Sorry, I got sidetracked!

Yuri: I thought I just said to stick together!

Liana: No dinner for you~

Rita: You all need to be more careful. I've never seen anybody get lost so easily!

Liana: HUH?! Excuse me, but 'I' have a PERFECT sense of direction! My women's intuition is FLAWLESS~!

Karol: Then which way are we supposed to go?

Liana: *Does pose with hands on top of head like Patty* Left~

Karol: That was a fast response!

* * *

Everyone decided to follow my advice and go left, to which we came across a dead end; though I wouldn't lie, that waterfall was beautiful…

"Left, huh?" Yuri said as he stared at the edge of the cliff.

I rolled my eyes, "Mhm! Left! Now… hmmm…"

"I think we should head back and try going right…" Estelle said a bit nervously.

"Hush! I am consulting with my intuition…" I pouted loudly at Estelle.

"…So what does it say?" Karol said with an unimpressed look on his face.

"Hmmm," I said as I looked at the building besides us. This was the building that had the staircase down to the password locked door and the rooftop warp blastia, "… We go in here!"

"Huh?!" Karol said incredulously, no sure WHY the way was to go into the building, "Why?!"

"Hmmm, dunno… just is," I said simply with a goofy grin.

Everyone was giving me sweat drops except for Kairi. Though Yuri had other plans, "Well, let's all head right before coming to any decisions."

"You can go on ahead, I'm going in there," I spoke up as I began to head towards the building.

"Liana…" Yuri's voice spoke up as though he wasn't playing around anymore, but neither was I.

"You can't go deciding for me. I'll be fine, besides, it's not like I can go anywhere else, right?" I replied seriously as I opened the door and let myself in; Kairi came running right behind me after she bowed to Yuri.

"Alright, but stay here. If you two move again…" Yuri began in a serious big brother tone as he leaned up against the opened door.

"Blah blah, no dinner. Big deal, now go find out you were wrong so you can come back to perform the Normincarena as penance!" I said pointing my finger at him, completing the remark with my signature one puffed up cheek pout!

Kairi began to giggle at the mention of the Normincarena while everyone else was clueless. With that, everyone left to go the opposite direction while I grabbed the limit bottle, king sized belt for Rita, and the cocktail dress… seriously, in the game you could equip them to the characters for stat boosts…. But it never changed their appearance… just how do these things work? Other than that, it's actually a cute dress… guess these kinds of things are gonna be for me to take home or wear… Or Kairi…

As I was about to head to the rooftop, I noticed an opened book thrown on the desk, "Hmmm? What's this?"

I looked at it, and immediately felt myself fall over, it was opened to a page showing the password locked vault door… and beside it was the three passwords: Light, Sky, Sphere… honestly, at first when I got those clues I thought it was the Moon… but with further logical thinking you find out what it really is.

"Liana… I'm going to start heading downstairs for a second," Kairi said as she peaked at the book.

"Sure thing, I'll head to the roof to signal those idiots," I replied with a smile.

Kairi nodded with an awkward smile before heading out of the room to go downstairs as I exited the room to go on the rooftop to peer around. I saw the hunting blades, I saw the group… I saw Kitamura from Super Sonico staring up at me from below the cliff… WHA!?

I rubbed my eyes and he wasn't standing in the spot down the cliff… I just laughed it off. (As if someone from some other anime or game could be here, Me, Caryn, and Justin were the only people unfortunate enough to come here. Ahahahaha…. Ha…. I need a nap.)

I saw the others heading back, and I closed my umbrella for a bit, cupped my hands around my mouth, smirked deviously, and shouted, "Have any luck?"

Yuri just sweat dropped at me as I gave him a devious grin as I opened up my umbrella again, "I take that as a no… so now, you owe me a Normincarena~"

"That's not saying where you're at isn't a dead end either," Yuri said with a slight pout, hoping to get out of my punishment.

I wagged a finger at him, "Say that after you see what I found~"

He swallowed hard from what I could see and I felt myself laughing intensely inside. I turned around and ran downstairs to meet with everyone else.

"I can't believe the other way was a dead end too," Karol pouted as he entered.

"Well, upstairs on the roof is our answer. And the proof of my victory over Mr. Lowell here~" I answered with a smirk, "You best prepare to dance your best~"

"Just what is the Normincarena?" Estelle asked curiously, "Is it an Earth thing?"

"Yep… though I don't know how it goes… Don't worry! We'll wing it~" I replied grinning from ear to ear.

Yuri gave me uncomfortable glances, until his gaze retuned to normal as he peaked around, "Hey…"

"Hm? What's up Mr. Universal Answer?" I replied earning me an odd look from him.

"Where's Kairi?" He asked a bit more seriously as he peaked around more, "Is she upstairs?"

I shook my head and pointed to the down stairs, "Nah, she said she wanted to see down stairs while I checked upstairs."

Estelle ran over to the stairs and called out for her, as if Kairi would hear her… could you hear someone? How far down did Kairi go? How good was the echo? Either way, there was no response.

Repede's ears picked up and wiggled around, as if he was hearing something, and before Yuri could ask him what was wrong, Repede dashed down the steps.

"Is Kairi, alright?" Estelle asked out loud as Repede dashed past her, figuring Repede's dash meant something was wrong.

"Hold on, let me give her a shout," I replied as I began shouting a bit telepathically, " _Kairi! Kairi, can you answer?! What's up?!_ "

No response.

" _HEY! UNIVERSAL CORNERSTONE! EARTH CALLING KAIRI! PICK UP!_ " I shouted now, her ears were gonna ring, but certainly she'd answer now.

No response…

I felt myself swallow hard as it was dark, but a faint light shone at the end of the stairs down… and I recalled that the spiraling case did have light, albeit dim light, but still it's light.

"I'm gonna go down, she's not answering at all, and I'm practically screaming in her ear," I replied to everyone as I began to head down the stairs.

"Hold on, I'm lead the way down," Yuri replied as he rushed to get in front of me, clearly a bit worried on if anything was down there to attack Kairi, he'd be the first to engage it.

"I'm coming too! Kairi might be hurt!" Estelle shouted as she ran up beside me to my left, Karol quickly taking my right, "I-I'll come along too, wait!"

Rita just groaned and walked behind, kinda boxing me in. I slightly frowned, I figured the rest were boxing me in to make me feel more secure with being in the dark. It's not like it's pitch black… I can handle it on my own…but then again… that's just like them to worry.

We began to head to the spiral, and everyone peered down to see if they could catch a glimpse of her on the spiraling case (It's not quite stairs… there are no steps… it's like the spiraling path inside Arlington Ranger's Stadium, only smaller and longer), calling for the small red-head. There was no response still and no sight.

Had she opened up the vault and gone in? What's going on?

"Repede!" Yuri called out, and a few moments later, Repede's barks could be heard. He didn't bark once, he began to bark frantically before stopping.

"Something's wrong," Yuri replied as he began to lead us down the stairs, all of us running.

As we were halfway down, which was three flights, I started getting nauseated. The aer was kicking up, what would happen if I reached the bottom where it was actually visible?

I never got to find out… when I reached we reached the fourth flight, I fell to my knees, my stomach was in back flips, and I hurled.

I wiped my mouth, but I felt like more was coming, I was so nauseated. My legs didn't want to move once I hit the ground… if I kept going further?

"Liana! What's wrong?!" Estelle said as she knelt by me rubbing my back.

I coughed a lot and almost threw up again, "C-Can't… any further…I feel so sick…"

I quickly covered my mouth as I hurled again through my fingers, my ability to breathe was getting harder too. Estelle looked about to use healing artes on me, but I help out a sticky hand out to her to stop her, "…Don't…need…that…"

I fell into a coughing fit as we heard Repede's bark and saw him at the end of the 4rth spiral, watching us.

"Repede, did you find anything?" Yuri asked his partner.

On demand, Repede walked a bit down the spiral out of our sights, before appearing, dragging Kairi along the ground towards the others. She looked like she was unconscious.

"Kairi!" Estelle shouted in worry, but she didn't get up and run over to her, she was caught between trying to help two people, and didn't want to leave my side. Maybe to try to get along better with me, but I'm not the unconscious one…

Yuri ran over to the small girl and looked her over, "She's still breathing, but not a lot…"

"What happened?" Estelle asked, as if Yuri had the answer.

"I don't know, we'll have to ask her once she wakes up," Yuri replied, until he turned to look at me in time to throw up again. I had nothing to vomit anymore, but my stomach acid was now all I had to puke, my throat was going to be so ragged either later or tomorrow if this kept up.

Yuri quickly scooped up Kairi under one arm and ran over to me to scoop me up under his other arm, "C'mon, we gotta get these two back upstairs."

The other's nodded to him as he ran ahead, leading the way for everyone back upstairs. I just shivered like I normally do after I vomit a lot and multiple times, feeling relief as we passed up flight after flight. I wondered how far Kairi managed to make it until the aer got her to pass out…

Once we were back in the familiar first floor room, Yuri just dropped me on the ground which made me glare at him, as he put down Kairi carefully. Unfair bastard…

"How do you feel?" Yuri asked me with a serious look.

"I can breathe now… no more nausea… ugh, I'm so sticky I feel like playing in the rain to wash off…" I replied as I stared at my now gross hands, chin, and chest in disgust.

Kairi began to breath a bit more, but she still couldn't open her eyes. Estelle checked her over and tried healing her, but she still didn't open her eyes.

"I wonder what happened…" Estelle said hopelessly, sad that she couldn't do anything for me or Kairi.

"I dunno, it seemed to me like the farther down we went, the worse it got… she probably pushed herself to go as far down as she could until she couldn't no more… she can really be that stubborn…" I replied, still getting some air and settling my stomach down.

"I'll check downstairs then, you guys keep an eye on Kairi," Yuri spoke up as he prepared to go back down the stairs, wanting to see what might've caused us to get so bad.

"I'm coming," Estelle said, making up her mind to travel with Yuri in case something happened.

"I'll go too, something did seem off as we traveled down," Rita spoke up.

"H-Hey, don't just leave me behind," Karol said as he pouted.

"Sorry, but somebody has to stay to keep an eye on Kairi," Yuri got out until he heard a 'Woof', and turned to see Repede walking over and laying beside Kairi, giving him a look that said 'I'll look after her'.

"Alright, you guys can come, but if you guys feel bad, turn around and come back upstairs, okay?" He told the others, which earned him a nod from them.

He then turned to me with a strict look, "And you stay put this time, behave."

I rolled my eyes, but laid down on the ground, "Alright Mr. Universal Answer…I'll behave."

He just gave me an awkward grin, "You better."

And with that everyone traveled downstairs to discover the password protected vault and the mass of aer.

"Keep an eye on her Repede, gonna quickly take a rain shower…" I said as I got up to go wash myself in the rain, actually stripping to nothing to avoid my new pamper getting soaked and my damp clothes becoming soaked again.

He just snorted as if to say 'do what you want', as I stood outside near the door to avoid having to outrun any monsters for the door. Giving my face, chest and hands a good rinse and scrub before, turning around to go back inside, scrounge in my bag for a towel to dry off and change back into my clothes.

I rolled on the musky, mossy floor in bored until the other's returned later with a puzzled look.

* * *

Ah ending it there…

Caryn: You actually ended this 900 words earlier O-O

Yeah, decided either I go for a good place to stop… or 10k words… I chose a good place since there's still a bit more to do in Caer Bochram…

Caryn: Also, thanks to you allowing me to read these before posting them up made me see one thing… Chapter 1 was completed on 6.27.2017 ... which means…

Both: THIS STORY IS A YEAR OLD!

Ah… I never thought I'd see this day… Still so much to do…

Caryn: I'll say… one year…. And you still haven't even gotten to the point of defeat Barbos…

*falls over in fetal position* I… I'm trying Q-Q it's just college and life… and you know my mother…

Caryn: Just be glad she's isn't at least most of what my mom was like…

Amen… other than that, I'm going to Arizona, Vegas, and California in the middle of July for a couple of days each. I both am and am not looking forward to it…

Caryn: Well, just hurry on with this story already… I want my happy end D:

Oh? Is the ending I have in mind even considered a 'happy end'? :P

Caryn: Bitch give me a happy end XD

I've thought of the story ahead… having a hard time with the here and now, but I'll do my best to get MORE done this next year… or maybe to even get this story done before it's next anniversary… then I can do fun fillers… come to think of it… I might not add the fillers to the drabbles… I'll make a new story series for that since the drabbles were POVS and missing content from the main story here.

Caryn: Operation: Code Fillers? XD

YES! And maybe even an Operation: Code Lemons! That way I can put in the lemons without fear of the ENTIRETY of the drabbles or fillers being removed if it's TOO SPICY for readers… seriously… what's wrong with a lemon that actually is detailed enough to turn you on?! Good writing is something you can picture without actual pictures and evoke feelings from... even if it evokes feelings from the *cough* lower regions *cough* of the body.

Caryn: YEAH! I mean come on… if Fifty Shades of Grey can be that kinky… why would yours get removed? Kids need to learn to stay away from lemons/adult content if it offends them or bothers them, especially when given a warning and chance to skip over it rather than report it. We adults enjoy our content thank you very much!

May have to change the rating for this story though to just Teens… but I'll think more on it as I go along, after all, the lemons and 'more adult' content is going to be in the lemon folder though… that lemon/adult folder is going to be up in a couple of chapters since our first 'adult' content (I don't consider it a true lemon, but it is 'sexual') is coming up here in a while.

Caryn: Oh, can't wait for that~ It's me and Flynn right :D?!

… Hmmm maybe… maybe not ;D

Caryn: I want it to be me DX!

Next: Dreaded Giant and Heliord…


	20. 19: So many broken promises

Still a WIP… and please subscribe to the drabbles to go along with the story.

Kairi: There is no subscribe button though…

… Follow, it's the same thing XD LOLZ

Please remember, ( ) parenthesis are MY thoughts, _italics are telepathic talk between me and Kairi_

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Tales of Vesperia, Justin, or Caryn. I DO have permission to use Justin and Caryn though. I OWN myself, Kairi, and my work in this fic. That is all….

* * *

"Any luck with the thieves? Any clues or what was down there?" I asked the troubled group; Kairi still unconscious.

"There's a door, but it's password protected," Rita managed to get out, "Don't think we're going to get that opened… and the amount of aer down there…"

"Aer?" I asked stupidly (Thank god, I at least remember I gotta act surprised or stupid… like if this was my first play through!).

"Yeah, remember, that stuff that made you two faint back in Quoit woods, or get nauseated at Halure," Yuri turned to me speaking up, "That's what made you sick down there, and what made Kairi collapse."

"Mmmm…" Kairi groaned, starting to come to at the sound of Yuri's voice.

"Oh, she's waking up. Thank goodness," Estelle said as she rushed over to Kairi's side, causing Repede to get up and move to avoid her.

"… Mmmnn… I want sausage patties and eggs," Kairi got out as she stretched and got up with Estelle's help.

Yuri gave her his funny face, hand on hip, "Are you always hungry when you wake up?"

"It would explain why her boobs and ass are really nicely filled out…" I smirked as Estelle looked in thought, no doubt her 'perfect diet' was about to change.

Kairi turned to us with a pout, "I'm not always hungry…"

"Says the girl who asks for pancakes, eggs, bacon, whatever you feel like whenever you first wake up," Yuri teased, which caused her to turn pink, unable to argue with him.

"Anyways… what now?" I asked Yuri, causing us all to look at him, "Your method of transportation is on the roof, if you want to keep searching around."

Yuri slumped a bit, "I completely forgot about that… guess we go to the roof. Kairi can you walk?"

At that Kairi tinged a dark pink and stood up immediately, "I-I I can walk! I'm good…"

"Alright, lets head up and keep searching, and find a way to open that door while we're at it," Yuri got out as we went upstairs.

* * *

Yuri sweat dropped as he saw the warp blastia, he knew he was going to owe me that Normincarena. With a blast from the sorcerer's ring, it was up and running.

"So, Liana. Which way does your intuition say this time?" Yuri asked, now convinced to allow me to pick the way.

I stared at the machine, where the buttons said they went and turned to him with a dumb look, "I need no intuition for this right now. I've figured it out. It's just logic. Going right is just going to take us down that way," I pointed down the cliff to my right, "and left should take us up there," I pointed up the cliffs to the next set of buildings on my left, "So left it is."

"I guess that makes sense," Yuri said with his funny face, god I want to Gibb's slap him and tell him to stop that before I bust my gut.

"…. Muffin button," I said randomly staring at Yuri.

"Muffin button?" Yuri said with a raised eyebrow.

"Mhm, muffin button," I said before I pressed the button to go left, my eyes never leaving the group, as I flew off in a bubble up the cliffs.

Once I was on the top of the cliffs I could hear Yuri shouting at me, screw the no dinner policy, I got my own food at home I can make through my bag if I get hungry.

"Liana!" I heard Yuri shout, "I said to stick together!"

"I see a little silhouetto of a man~" I said loudly back as turned to stare at my left before returning my gaze down the cliff and almost laughing. Kairi was trembling with the urge to hold back singing the Bohemian Rhapsody, yet again.

"You see someone? Hold on! I'm coming up. Left, right?" Yuri said as he got on the blastia.

"It's left," Kairi said as she got on the blastia and pressed the button, the both of them warping up here in a bubble.

After a few minutes, everyone was up on the cliff, and we all began to walk towards the crowd we saw in the distance.

"…So it looks like the Blood Alliance…" Estelle began as we noticed that across the waterfall was a large group of Hunting Blade members, Clint and Tison among them.

"…aren't here after all," Yuri finished up her sentence.

"Those guys are the Hunting Blades," Karol answered a non-asked question.

Estelle then look a bit shocked, "Th-that man… we saw him in Deidon Hold."

Yuri gave him a look over, "Ah, now that you mention it, we did see him. So he's the leader of your guild, then?"

Karol turned to Yuri with a nod, "Yeah, he's Clint, the leader of the Hunting Blades."

Clint raised his sword as the Gattuso roared in anger at being cornered.

"He's gonna fight that monster all by himself?" Estelle almost shouted in astonishment.

And with one strike of his sword, Gattuso went down.

"Wha! No way, man!" Rita said in shock.

"Well fuck you too," I said pouting at the guild leader… I mean C'mon! We suffered fighting Gattuso and he one shots it?! That's bull! I call bullshit!

The most interested person, was Yuri, "He took it out in one hit…?"

Clint is officially the Saitama of Terca Lumireis… seriously…

"That was a fatal strike," Karol once again answered a non-asked question.

Yuri turned to him, definitely interested, "A fatal strike?"

"It's a crazy-powerful technique that extremely skilled swordsman can use," Karol answered happily.

"Hmmm… so how do you do it?" Yuri asked, he wanted the skill. Give him the skill!

Karol was now at a loss of words, for that was one piece of info he didn't have, "How do you do it…? H-how should I know?!"

Estelle lifted her head, closed her eyes and recited, "Fatal strike—A strong attack which throws your opponent off balance… Followed by a single, well-timed strike to finish the enemy."

"Is that something else you read in a book?" Rita asked Estelle curiously.

"Y-yes, it is…" Estelle answered nervously, she probably didn't want to say she had a sword teacher.

Yuri looked in thought, "I see… It sounds like it's easier said than done."

"Most things are easier said than done, but what need and must be done gets done, no matter how long it takes," I replied as I looked to Kairi, "Like how I'm still trying to learn how to put Aer into my gauntlets like Kairi can with her staff or wand."

We watched as the guild members pulled out, taking the carcass with them, probably to remove the valuable parts of it before disposing of it somewhere. (Oh so that's why there wasn't a carcass when you crossed to the other building~ neat.)

"You really want to get back into the guild, don't you?" Rita said towards Karol, to which I now took notice of his sad expression as he watched them go.

"Wh-what makes you say that?" Karol suddenly got pulled out of his trance, nervous at Rita's words.

Estelle then turned to him in shock, "What…? Karol, are you going back into the guild?"

"Bad idea, baby boy. I'm serious, you can do a lot better," I piped up supportively.

Karol just wagged his finger, "I won't go back…! I'm sick and tired of monster hunting."

"Won't go back, or can't go back? It sounds like you were fired," Rita said, which made me twitch, that was a low blow, and I wasn't going to let her off on it, but I couldn't think of any sort of retaliation now... fuck.

"N-no. I had been planning on leaving for a while," Karol pouted upsetly.

"Oh, really? Well, whatever you say," Yuri said as he came out of thoughts for a bit before returning to them.

"So, uh, let's get going," Karol said nervously.

Estelle smiled, "Well, I'm glad you're staying with us, Karol."

I hugged Karol between my breasts, "I'll say! I'll be lonely if baby boy leaves us."

Karol flailed as Yuri asked him a question, "Anyway, what do you think they're doing with such a large contingent?"

Estelle turned to look where the group had left off to, "Yeah, if they wanted to take out the monster we saw, one person would've been enough."

Karol popped his head out of between my breasts to look over where Estelle was looking, "This is actually the first time I've ever seen this many guild members gathered in one place."

"Really?" Estelle asked curiously.

"Yeah, a lot of the members are loners. They tend not to travel in groups. And the chief being here is out of the ordinary too."

"Curiouser and curiouser…" Rita said, a tone of wanting to find out what they're up to in her voice.

"Want to … follow them and see what they're up to?" Karol brought up to Yuri, no longer fighting getting out of my embrace.

"Nah, that sounds interesting, but I'm gonna keep going," Yuri said in thought still, he definitely was curious.

"He's looking for members of the Blood Alliance after all. Right, Yuri?" Estelle replied, even though no one had asked for his reasons…

"Thank you for that, Captain Obvious," I rolled my eyes at her.

Though Yuri finally snapped out of his thoughts, "Yeah, I don't want to worry about two guilds. One is more than enough!"

"So, which way now Liana?" Karol asked, making me stare at him dumbly until I realized they wanted my 'intuition'. If I kept leading them to where we actually needed to go, they may get suspicious and rely on me for directions a ton; that's something they need to do themselves… but I want the chests…

"Actually… I'm kinda torn here… my intuition and chest senses are tingling like crazy…I'm now not sure which is which anymore," I replied with wide eyes to the young boy.

"Torn?" Estelle asked confused.

"Yeah! I wanna go that way! I want to go that way! I want to go in there! I definitely want to go there! And there! Down there! Up there! And-" I began on my frenzy spinning in place and finger pointing making Yuri grab my hand and put it down.

"Whoa! Easy there, one at a time," Yuri brought up, and I just pouted.

"There are so many places… can Kairi and I split up to look around to cover more ground, please?" I pleaded, though Yuri wasn't having it.

"I said for us to stick together, we can't split up. If we encounter the Blood Alliance, one can't fight them alone while the other gets help, and the monsters around here aren't so easy to handle alone," Yuri piped up.

I pouted, "But…"

Kairi seemed to realize what I was wanting to do; I wanted to find a way to open the password door while they searched and raided the chests in my stead, especially since the password clues where with the book in that building, and if we pointed out the book, they may wonder how we came across it and what the mechanism is since I never saw it… and I wasn't sure if Kairi did either.

"I… I don't mind. I can handle myself, and with Liana, I'll be okay," Kairi said to Yuri, her cheeks a tinge pink, but she looked him in the eye for as long as she could hold it until she dropped her eyes.

"No way. Out of all of us, you're the one who can't take hits," Yuri brought up, and I noticed her stiffen a little, "and the last thing we need is everyone getting lost."

He must've hit a nerve as Kairi's head lowered now, her previous confidence gone, "B-but… I can…"

"Woof!" Repede barked, catching everyone's attention as he strolled over to Kairi, gently grabbing her dress in his mouth carefully and giving a light tug away from the group.

"I may not speak dog, but I think that means he wants to come with. So, if Kairi and I go with Repede, would that be alright? Splitting into groups of 3 and 4?" I suggested, Repede still tugging Kairi.

Yuri stared at Repede, before nodding, "Alright, but stick with Repede."

"We will," Kairi said suddenly, Repede just let go and gave Yuri a knowing look before returning to tug on Kairi's dress.

"Repede, look after them," He told his partner, and lightly murmured, "They can be a handful so be careful."

"I heard that Lowell!" I pouted as Yuri gave me an awkward grin.

We both began to split up, but I quickly turned back to the group and gave a shout, "Yuri!"

"Hm? What is it?!" Yuri shouted back.

"Do me a solid! Raid any chest you find for me, please!" I shouted, earning a huge pout from Estelle who turned to Yuri with an upset look and began to nag him. He better get me those chests or else Estelle's hair is no longer going to be pink… (I have some random hair dyes at home~ albeit temporary, but still would be effective since they don't know that).

* * *

We wandered to a few buildings before returning to the building with the stair cases.

"Ooooh! I almost missed that!" I said as I ran towards the corner shelf, Repede just yawning in boredom; we hadn't run into any monsters due to my skillful directions and hiding spot finding.

"Missed what?" Kairi asked curiously.

I turned to her with a huge grin, "Three Magic Lens!"

She just sweat dropped, and the three of us went upstairs to retrieve the book.

I knew Repede couldn't speak English, but he'd act wary around us to alert Yuri if we began prattling on about the door and things to come, so I began to telepathically talk to Kairi as we climbed up.

"Say Kairi. How far did you get before passing out?" I asked in curiosity before also adding, " _If you didn't reach the bottom, just lie and say you saw the door. Repede may get onto us if we're not careful_."

"Huh? O-Oh, well… I got to the bottom and saw a door… but I couldn't go any further," Kairi responded, " _I did get to the bottom… but the bottom step was all I could get to…_ "

" _Perfect! Just try to wing it and act along while we figure the password out and take the book_ ," I replied as we reached the top floor.

"Hmmm…." I began as I walked by the desk with the book, stopped, and turned dramatically towards the book and picked it up and turned it open Kairi, the pages were all stuck together except the main needed pages, "Did it look like this?"

If I could fool Repede… I'll find some way to thank my two high school drama teachers.

"Yes! That's the door! What the heck!" Kairi shouted as she grabbed the book.

"Waoon?" Repede got out as if he was confused (… maybe Kairi was overdoing her part? Or perhaps it was good… gah, I can never tell, this dog is as much a ninja as Yuri!).

"Light… Sphere… Sky…" Kairi said the clues as she looked in thought, "Maybe one of these is the password? Yuri and the others said it needed a password."

I commended her faking it, I tried not to let my worry show or be felt, last thing I need is Repede picking up on my nervousness.

"Though… wouldn't that be too easy? Who leaves a password lying about? Maybe it's hints or clues… I mean, Light, Sphere, and Sky… those are some weird passwords. I mean if you put those together, then what's a sphere of light in the sky?" I asked.

"Um, the moon or the sun?" Kairi answered.

"But what if this planet has a specific name for the moon and sun?" I asked with a raised eyebrow, I mean on Earth we name the moons of other planets.

"Let me ask," Kairi said as she turned and knelt down to Repede, "Say, do the sun and moon have specific names?"

"Waoon? Woof! Woof!" Repede got out, I just sweat dropped, envious of her ability to talk to him.

"No, it's just the sun and the moon," Kairi answered as she got up, "So one of those is the password… and I think I know which one."

"Nice! Though… now what, the others might not be here anytime soon, and we can't go down there…" I brought up, recalling how the 4rth flight made me vomit, and how reaching the bottom made Kairi lose consciousness.

"I know! We could stay here, and Repede can go get Yuri!" Kairi got out, as Repede tilted his head. She turned to him and clasped her hands pleadingly, "Repede, please go get Yuri! I promise we'll stay in the building and won't go anywhere. I swear this time."

Repede gave her a long stare before nodding and began to head towards the door to the rooftop, Kairi opening it to let him out, and we watched as he placed his paws up on the control board and pressed the left button to warp up the cliff to start up top before moving on down… he was a very smart dog… but not smart enough to figure us out.

"So, now what? We try to get to the bottom to open the door?" I asked a bit nervously… I just showered up… I didn't want to vomit all over again…

"No, I'll do it. If I can hold on long enough, I should be able to reach the door panel and unlock the door. Then fight it as hard as I can to get back up the steps to a safe flight," Kairi said full of determination.

"Alright, man I can already hear Yuri getting pissed at us," I sweat dropped as we both descended the staircase to the spiral.

Once we reached the third floor of the spiral, I stopped and gripped the railing, "There's no way… any further and I'm gonna hurl, I can't fight it…"

Kairi nodded, "Then I'll go, I'll be back as quickly as I can."

With that I watched her descend, the sound of her rushing footsteps echoing throughout the staircase. After the sound of her steps slowing down and stopping, I kept my ears opened for a thud, but I heard nothing. Then suddenly the loud sound of gears turning and pistons moving made me smile, she had opened the door.

I heard her footsteps again, then a thud… she couldn't make it back, "Kairi?... Kairi?! Hey! Hold on! The others will be here soon! Just wait!"

After a few seconds of panicking, suddenly a severe wave of nausea hit me, I turned over the railing and hurled, "What the hell, this is just the 3rd flight, why?!"

The answered hit me… aer… she opened the door, and the aer is thick in there, molecules and things travel from most to least, so of course the aer flowed in here and was making it worse. I had no choice, my body was getting weaker, I climbed up the flights to get away from the incoming aer to avoid vomiting.

I managed to sit my ass up on the top flight near the stair case to try to get air despite knowing that it'd only be a matter of time till the aer got up here, when Repede ran down the steps to me, Yuri and the other's rushed down behind him.

Yuri turned to me with an angry expression, he'd had enough of our getting into trouble today, "What the hell were you thinking coming down here?! You knew about the aer and how sick you'd get!"

"We found… the password… Kairi… wanted to try opening the door…" I managed to get out as slight nausea was hitting me. I prayed the aer would stop there, at least slight nausea was more manageable than severe nausea.

"Kairi?!" Yuri got out, he quickly knelt before me, "Where is she?!"

"Down…she opened… it… and …got worse…" I got out as I struggled a bit to get up, wanting to climb up the stairs already to avoid the nausea.

"Estelle, Rita, Karol, help Liana upstairs, I'm going down with Repede to get Kairi," Yuri spoke up hurriedly and ran off before anyone could protest; Repede fast on his heels.

The others clearly wanted to follow him, but they obeyed, Estelle held my left side, while Karol took my right, Rita just fumed but kept behind me to try to stop me incase I'd fall backwards. They laid me back against the wall, as they waited for Yuri to come back with Kairi and Repede.

In about a few more minutes, I saw Yuri come up the steps, Kairi completely out in his arms. Or at least we thought she was just unconscious, but he carefully and quickly laid her on the ground, put his hand on her neck and gave a grim look.

As he locked his fingers between her chest and pressed down for chest compressions, I knew. She had died due to the immense air… though Yuri thinks it's temporary heart failure, and he's right about it being temporary. Once she'd come to, I didn't have to worry about explaining Kairi's slight immortality… he'd just think he successfully resuscitated her.

"Yuri! What's wrong?!" Estelle said as she noticed his doing chest compressions on her.

"Her heart stopped! She's not breathing either!" Yuri said firmly, though concern was in his tone. Right now… losing a friend was something he feared.

"Oh no! I'll help! Just what can I do?!" Estelle said as she quickly knelt on the other side of Kairi.

"Gh! I'm almost at 30, open her mouth a little, put your hand on her forehead and get set to pinch her nose, use two fingers and tilt her chin, do you know how to do mouth to mouth resuscitation?" Yuri asked as he kept up a really good pace.

"Mouth to…" Estelle turned pink, she became to flustered to even answer and Yuri just answered, "Fine! I'll do it, just keep her head tilted back and pinch her nose when I say!"

I wanted to pull out my camera to record that, but I was too weak still. He moved his hair away and leaned over her, his lips inching closer to hers within seconds, he was probably a millimeter away from her lips when Kairi let out a large gasp for air and began coughing in a fit.

Ah poor Kairi… if only she knew of how close she was to having Yuri's lips on hers… she'd be so upset.

"Kairi!" Yuri shouted in surprise as he jerked his head away from her to allow her to breathe.

Though the princess was the complete opposite. She grabbed the coughing girl and hugged her tightly, "Kairi! Oh thank goodness, you're alive! You're okay!"

"Estelle, give her some room to breathe! When recovering from things like that, people have to lay flat down," Yuri said a bit shocked at the sudden embrace while Kairi struggled to catch her breath.

"U-uh, Oh!" Estelle said suddenly as she let go and put the girl carefully on the ground again, almost starting to go into tears, "S-Sorry! I was just so happy…"

Rita began to analyze her, "She still has aer in her body, it'll be a bit till her body flushes it out. These two's bodies can't handle it at all since they're not adjusted for it."

"So, now what?" Karol asked, giving out a breath of relief that the small girl was alright.

"I want to go check that room, for that much aer to be there, something off," Rita spoke up.

"Hmmm, I'll check it out too. Kairi did go through the trouble to open it up," Yuri spoke up, "but we can't just leave these two here."

"We're not going anywhere, too weak to even think of getting up, I'm sure Kairi will be down too," I got out as I raised my hand weakly.

The others looked in thought, and Repede turned towards the stairs and barked as if to say 'If we're going, lets just all go'.

Yuri just nodded, "Alright, but stay put, don't come down with the aer like it is."

"Amen, I don't need to vomit anymore…" I said as I shivered at the memory of the feeling of sticky vomit all over my chest, chin, and hands…

The others descended the stairs and we knew what was going to go down. We'd just have to sit this one out and hope they'd be okay fighting Gusios…

* * *

After what felt like a good 8 minutes, the ground began to shake, the dust from the walls and desks filling the air as I brushed off the dust that landed on me from the shaking ceiling.

"Pfff, ugh, disgusting," I got out as I stood up carefully to dusty myself off, Kairi slowly beginning to come to.

"What?" Kairi got out weakly as she rubbed her dust covered face, wincing when some dust got in her eyes.

"That would be Gusios, he must a stomped and made that top piece break off, which means they're now getting set to fight him…" I answered simply.

She blinked a few times before throwing herself upwards to sit upright, "We have to go help them! Gusios may kill them all, and then-!"

She stood up abruptly and began to try to run, only to take a misstep with her first step and land face first on the ground.

"Easy there Sugar Tits, it's just started, lets just recover a bit more then head down the steps, the aer should be all gone now after Judy broke that blastia," I assured her, but she looked up at me, her face covered in dirt, scuffed a little red due to impact, tears beginning to fill her eyes, "Yeah… but… if anything happens to him all because I decided to open the door first rather than wait and let them do it, I'll never forgive myself…"

"Come to think of it… why didn't we just wait to show them the book and let them do it?" I asked myself suddenly feeling a little stupid.

"Liana~!" Kairi whined loudly and began to sob on the ground.

I rubbed her back, trying to get her to calm down so she could recover more so we could get moving, "Just relax and the faster we'll get to go down there… besides… if you didn't open the door, you wouldn't have had Yuri almost give you mouth to mouth~."

At that Kairi stiffened up, but despite her face in the ground… her ears were turning red, she practically squeaked, "M-Mouth to… Mouth…."

"Yeah!... Although, you gasped for air when he was like a millimeter there…" I teased, which caused her to return to moping on the ground.

I heard footsteps and turned to see Karol come running up the steps in a panic, I was about to call for him, but he ran right past us, completely ignoring we were there, "Baby boy!"

He didn't hear, his mind must've been in a panic due to Gusios, and his fight or flight response kicked in perfectly, and he ran out the door.

"Well that was… fast…" I commented, kinda wanting to laugh as I could imagine someone making a meme out of that if I could've recorded it with the 'Fuck This Shit I'm Out' song file.

"Well… Nan wasn't wrong about him running away," Kairi commented as she turned to her side.

I gave her side a prod due to frustration, "Hey, baby boy just has a lot to learn. You know he's just a kid, he won't become a little man until the Blade Drifts."

She groaned in irritation as we waited, feeling the floor shake a bit from time to time.

Once she could stand and walk, we headed own the stair case; the aer was absolutely gone… which technically shouldn't be possible, something just can't turn to nothing, if anything once the blastia was destroyed then the aer should 'stop' and just scatter and dissipate into the world, not disappear in an instant… ah game logic.

* * *

We ran into the room, to see the collapsed area, everyone was out of breath, and Gusios was giving Estelle a good look as she backed up.

"Guys!" Kairi shouted out as she tried to climb down the debris to go heal them. Though of course, with her clumsy nature, she stepped on a spot that created a landslide down, and she slid with it until she reached the floor which caused her to roll and bump Gusios's leg.

"Oh shit!" I shouted in panic as I tried to get down fast. Kairi was slightly immortal… and having your bones all fractured and organs squished, if he decided to stomp on her… I wasn't sure if that kinda death could be recoverable… there were limits…

She stared up at Gusios as he turned to stare down at her, gave a light awkward smile and waved a hand, "Uhm… Hi?"

Gusios just stared at her, but Kairi's eyes slightly opened wide after a bit, "Huh?"

With that Gusios let out a roar and turned to leave, careful not to stomp on Kairi as she got up to go heal the others as Estelle collapsed on the ground. Especially Yuri who was panting heavily, covered in sweat and bruises, some blood coming off the side of his head. That was another thing, the game never showed injuries on the characters, so you never knew how badly they were hurt, at least not until you experienced it firsthand.

"We made it…" Estelle got out as I stood on the debris to go back up.

Rita was looking around, "…What about Karol?"

Dawwww, I knew she cared! Cute moment was gone as the blastia smashed on the ground behind everyone and the water that was being held above began to rain down. They were lucky, any further back and they'd have been crushed under it.

"There ain't a monster alive that wasn't born to be my punching bag," Tison called out with like a victory stance.

"Master! It's too dangerous!" Nan shouted, though it was so girly sounding I almost didn't recognize her.

"So, is that what gets her honey flowing then?" I said as I stared at the two awkwardly.

Tison was about to speak up again, until he looked over and spotted me and pointed at me while taking a step back, "Y-Y-YOU! You're that freaky n-n-naked girl who was bathing out in the rain!"

At that everyone stared at me wide eyed as I stared at him with wide eyes… I didn't think anyone had seen me, but... oh well.

"Chill bro, it's just some skin," I complimented.

"Says the freak who was in nothing out in the open!" He shouted as he stomped, his face red from what I could see under the hood.

"Geez, if you liked what you saw that much then don't get all flustered about it… you're a man aren't you?" I sassed.

"I-I am too a man! Just watch! This monster is mine, even if it costs me my life!" Tison shouted as he ran and prepared to jump on board Ba'ul.

I looked up at Judy and just about almost fell over, my eyes wide in surprise at who was on Ba'ul along with our Dragon Rider… Kitamura from Super Sonico… I wasn't seeing things! What was he doing here?!

Rita got set to charge, in the game she paused when she saw Tison jump, but this time she held her charge as Tison jumped. Kitamura moved over and what seemed to be a slight movement of his wrist, Tison went flying down. Rita fired off her fireballs, that wasn't in the game! And Kitamura extended his hand and the fireballs disappeared into nothing.

"What the-!" Rita said as she ran over to stare at 'Kitamura' as he exited through the water with Ba'ul and Judy.

I stared in stupidity and at the same time wanting to laugh; I knew that wasn't Kitamura. (Kitamura is a human with a hidden katana in his back coat… he doesn't have powers, the only person it can be… is Zane in disguise… but WHY KITAMURA! IT'S SO….I don't even think I can comment on that… it's so stupidly ridiculous… I want to bust my gut but then I'll draw attention to myself… ah what a pain father and daughter are).

"The ceiling… it's not gonna hold!" Estelle shouted in concern.

"Then let's get out of here!" I shouted to the group after Kairi was done healing up Repede.

Yuri watched as Clint and the others headed out, "Liana's right, we should leave too."

"It's not fair, I wanted to beat the hell out of those two freaks, too!" Rita argued, I inwardly chuckled, she wouldn't last long against Zane, but I doubt he'd harm her since Rita here is VERY VITAL to this story.

Estelle hesitated, and turned to us, panic in her voice, "Wait, where did Karol go?"

"If he isn't out here, he probably left before us. We'll look for him as we go," Yuri replied.

I nodded, "No worries, baby boy actually passed Kairi and me up top, and as far as I know he never came back down, so he should be up topside."

"Alright, then let's go," Yuri said as he and I began to climb up the debris with Repede, Rita following after as Kairi helped Estelle. We all got out of the room and closed the vault door behind us… and it'll NEVER open again.

* * *

We exited the building and lo and behold, the drama began again.

"Something comes up, and it's just 'poof', you're gone! Always, always running away by yourself!"

We turned to see Nan and Karol arguing, despite I normally would love to hop into defend him, this was a bit of a learning opportunity for him, and a little bit of an important one if I recall in the manga, so I left the two children be.

"I-It's not like that!" Karol argued back.

"Not like what?!" Nan shouted staring at him with wide eyes, visibly stunned that he wasn't getting the picture.

"Like I said, back at Halure…" Karol began, to which Nan cut in visibly upset, "I'm not talking about Halure!"

She was talking about right now, how she saw him run after seeing Gusios.

"If you're not ashamed of anything, then shouldn't you hurry back to your friends?" Nan added; for once she wasn't being just a bitch and was actually putting meaning in her words.

Karol just lowered his head, "It's just that…"

Nan turned to spot us, "No need to explain to me. I think you've got other people who'll listen to you."

Karol's head shot up surprise as he turned to us, "Huh…? Guys…"

"Karol, I'm so glad you're safe," Estelle said relieved.

"Baby boy! So that's where you are!" I just ran up and smothered him in my chest again, making Nan fidget nervously. (Hey! I can't help I got 'em hunny).

"Where the hell did you go? We were really in a jam back there," Rita argued at him, though those words could be taken two ways; 1 was that he had run away (Which he did…), and 2 was that we'd been counting on him to fight as if he was important (I'm just going to say Rita meant the second type, cause it's so… d'awwww~).

"I'm… I'm sorry…" Karol got out as he lowered his head once I pulled from my hug to give him some space to breathe.

"Hey, at least you made it out in one piece," Yuri said relieved as he walked over to pat Karol on the head.

"I'm leaving," was Nan's reply uncaringly as she turned away.

Karol quickly turned towards her, "Wait…"

She turned to him with a strict gaze, "You think long and hard about what you've done. That's all I have to say to you."

With that said, Nan took off, making Yuri rub Karol's head as he flailed, an upset tone peaking through as he shouted, "Hey, cut it out!"

"Let's get going, Karol. We're all tired," Yuri said in an almost drained voice. He was exhausted alright, fighting Gusios without my 'strategies' and Kairi's 'extra healing' must've made it tough…

Karol settled down as he stared up at Yuri's tired face, "Yuri…"

"Man, we were way off. The Blood Alliance was nowhere to be seen," Rita said in a pretty dramatic voice, it was kinda bizarre to hear it in person.

"No kidding. We'll have to take any information that guy gives us with a grain of salt," Yuri replied.

Rita then looked stunned, "'Guy'…? You don't mean…?"

"Yeah," was Yuri's simple tired reply.

"Ooh! I am gonna roast that deadbeat the moment I see him," Rita fumed angrily.

"Let's… let's just take it easy on the way back," Estelle suggested nervously at Rita's newfound burst of energy.

The others began to walk ahead and Kairi and I followed, stopping to look at Karol, waiting on him to come running with the group to follow.

Karol's head was just dropped as he spoke to himself, "…It's not like I…"

Yuri stopped and seemed to notice the hold up and called out to Karol, "Hey! You're gonna get left behind!"

"I'm coming!" Karol shouted back as he ran to catch up to all of us, not wanting to be left behind again.

* * *

-*- Freaky Masked Guy -*-

Rita: As if that Dragon Freak wasn't enough! Just who was that Monster Masked Freak?!

Estelle: Yes, he was very strong, he handled that guy so easily with no effort at all it seemed.

Yuri: Yeah, it didn't even seem like he was trying. It was completely weird.

Liana: *Mutters* Just what happened when we were recovering…?

Rita: Weird is an understatement! He just made my fireballs disappear into nothing. There isn't a blastia at all that I know of that can even do that. I wouldn't even know a formula that could do the same.

Estelle: That's kind of amazing.

Rita: More like freaky! What was with that weird fire head and monster mask! He just seemed like a massive weirdo to me.

Kairi: *mumbles lowly to self in disappointment* …Daddy…

Liana: Freak or not, am I the only one that wanted to bust my gut seeing that guy?

* * *

Once we reached the main entrance of the city, we were greeted by Yuri's second kill… *cough* I mean a fashionless seemingly gay douche bag…*cough*... on second though, scratch that… I wasn't about to insult gays by adding this guy to their ranks, they are SO MUCH MORE ABOVE THIS GUY!

Repede growled as Yuri looked in alert, he already knew Cumore compared to the Schwann Brigade wasn't so merciful.

"Ah, the common rabble. So I've finally found you. That's far enough," Cumore said in his high and mighty tone.

I walked out from behind Yuri and began to giggle at the sight of him, "Oh no I lied, this is making me bust my gut!"

With that I burst into laughter; in the game he was ridiculous, but in person, this was too much!

Cumore looked upset and glared at me, "I shall teach you to hold your tongue woman!"

"Yeah, not taking you seriously you wannabe drag queen reject," I laughed out, "Any fashionable drag queen should know that thongs go INSIDE your clothes, not on top of tights, ESPECIALLY NOT in plain sight!"

"Why you little- It's a cod piece!" He hissed angrily.

But I just laughed as Yuri stepped up, "You lackeys must have had a lot of time on your hands if you crossed the ocean just to see us."

With that Cumore returned to being calm and cool, "Humph… You're in no position to talk down to the likes of me, you common trash."

His eyes widened a bit and then a smirk hit his lips, "Oh, I see there is at least one pearl among the swine."

I turned to him with a stupid look, he never said that in game, so it was odd to hear him complimenting someone, it was Estelle, right?

He held out a hand in Kairi's direction, "Come over here my dear and you won't be harmed. A beautiful woman such as yourself should be draped on the arm of the most powerful and handsome man in the world."

I sweat dropped… of course it's Kairi… it's always Kairi…

Kairi then clung to Yuri's back right arm, and I smirked and turned to Cumore with a teasing tone, "Oh, look at that, she's taking your advice. Guess you're not entirely a good for nothing!"

Cumore looked steamed, but cooled himself and turned to Estelle, "Now, Princess, right this way."

As he took a few steps forward, Estelle took some back.

"Huh? What does he mean, 'princess'?" Karol asked Yuri curiously.

"The princess standing right here in front of us," Yuri said as he turned to Estelle.

Estelle turned to Yuri with wide eyes, completely stunned, "Y-Yuri… But how did you…?"

"How dumb do you take us for?" I asked Estelle with a dumb glare, don't belittle our detective work!

Karol of course was stunned, he was always the oblivious one, "What? …Estelle's a princess?"

"I suspected as much myself," Rita said, throwing in her two cents.

"Rita… you, too?" Estelle said stunned… seriously, just how dumb did she take us for? She mentions a castle, so Rita can figure that out easily. She has a room in the castle… that makes her royalty… so she's a mother fucking princess! It's not rocket science!

"W-wait, you've gotta be kidding…" Karol got out in disbelief, he was so slow… it was adorable.

Estelle stepped forward, "…And what will happen to my friends?"

"Why, they'll be drawn and quartered for abducting a member of the royal family, of course," Cumore said in his sassy tone.

"Please wait. I wasn't abduct—" Estelle got out before Cumore interrupted, "Ah, what a mouthy young lady you are. This way, please!"

The knights began to move in, Cumore drawing his sword too. Though in all honesty, we could wipe them all out no trouble, after all Cumore couldn't even fight at all, he's just all bark.

"Estelle…!" Karol shouted as Estelle was up front. Yuri took no time unsheathing his sword just as Kairi got her staff just in case the Schwann Brigade didn't show.

"Now die like the flied you are! Oh and gentlemen, do try not to damage that beautiful woman's face, other than that, break her if you must," Cumore said cooly, I just rolled my eyes as I put on my sheep gaunts, "Just a fair warning he-she guy, if I get my hands on you, I'm breaking your nuts, but I betcha you don't even have those."

The knights around actually began to chuckle as Cumore fumed in anger. It seemed like he was about to order the strike until a loud familiar voice rang out and almost made my ears bleed.

"Arrest the culprit Yuri Lowell and his accomplices," Leblanc shouted as he and the two tweedles arrived on scene, weapons ready.

Cumore turned around in shock, "Gah… you. The Schwann Brigade…! Just a minute! This prize catch is mine! I won't let you take him from me that easily!"

Leblanc turned to him with a serious gaze, "'Catch?' Our duties are not to be carried out in the fashion of a hunt."

"Humph…" Cumore scoffed as he regained composure.

"Did I not also hear someone mention 'dying' earlier…?" Leblanc brought up.

Cumore scoffed again, "You did. What is wrong with condemning criminals to their deaths?"

I rolled my eyes, but gave a very venomous cold glare, "So pointing your sword at the royal princess and asking your knights to 'break' an innocent person isn't the ramblings and actions of a criminal? If that statement holds true, does that mean I could condemn you to your death as well?"

When he turned to possibly fume at me he actually moved back, my gaze can get 'murderous' when I get angry Justin once told me.

Leblanc then spoke up as if answering both me and Cumore, "Should not criminals be judged in accordance with the laws?"

"Not when the law is what's fucked up," I pouted at the tweedles who gave me strict glares at insulting their government.

Cumore regained his composure and turned away, "…Humph… I suppose I can let you have these little worms."

As he walked away, we could hear him complaining as his men turned about to follow their captain, "If it isn't Schwann, it's Flynn. These upstart commoners are so full of themselves… Even that Commandant…"

Leblanc then turned to Estelle, "This way please, Your Highness. Do watch your step…"

Estelle looked taken aback by the kind gesture after witnessing how vile Cumore could be, "Um, but I…"

"Yes, right this way!" Pervit, er I mean Boccos said proudly.

Leblanc then shouted, "Arrest them in the name of Captain Schwann!"

"And I demand sanctuary in the name of Zane! …Though that wont work at all…" I said raising my hand in complaint, though I knew travelling with these three stooges was safer than with Cumore.

Gay fish *cough* I mean Adecor ran over with Boccos, both had swords drawn, "Okay, Yuri Lowell gang, it's curtains for you, I say!"

"What is it with you and 'I say'?" I asked raising an eyebrow in curiosity.

"What do you mean 'gang'?! Hey, get your hands off me! Do you know who I am?!" Rita shouted in anger as Boccos detained her first (Smart move, she's a fire cracker).

"B-but I haven't done anything!" Karol shouted as Boccos moved to cuff him.

Kairi grunted in pain a bit as Boccos clamped on her cuffs a bit too tight, making Repede growl at him for hurting her.

"Don't hurt them! I beg you…!" Estelle said, pleading desperately.

"Estelle, don't worry," Yuri said calmly, which I just held out my hands when it was my turn to show a complete surrender, cause I knew these guys were push overs, even if they tightened my chains too tight, I could still punch them into next week in retaliation.

"Yuri…!" Estelle said in an almost dreamy tone, I felt myself gag a bit in my mouth at how that came out.

"Just start walking! Walk, I say!" Adecor ordered as he pulled Yuri along.

"Ow! Hey, watch it with the pulling…!" Yuri complained, and when Adecor turned to me with an outstretched hand, to which I glared at him viciously, "Touch me, and I will kick you in the dick so hard that any future children you may think of having will disappear from existence, no jokes."

Leblanc finished talking to Schwann and turned to Adecor and Boccos, "All members, fall out!"

Adecor and Boccos quickly moved away from me, both keeping distance as we all got to walking towards Heliord.

* * *

Once inside the Knight's facility in Heliord, we began to hear of Yuri's numerous crimes, he did some bad ass things in the day, it was interesting to hear. But that wasn't what was bothering me…

"Can't I give it one good slap?!" I argued with Leblanc about the swaying 'Rain Doll' on the window.

"No! Now be a good girl and stay quiet!" Leblanc argued back.

I pouted, how was I supposed to restrain myself when the Wonder Chef was right there?!

"Continuing on, we will review the particulars of your 18th crime," Leblanc said as he shuffled through a large ass file filled with papers.

"Please do," Yuri said sarcastically, my tummy just rumbled as I rested my head against the wall, all of us hungry and tired from our long walk and trip, all without a lunch break too.

"Is it true that you threw a knight sent to collect the taxes into the river?" Leblanc asked stoically in a professional manner.

"Wow, I'd forgotten about that. Was that you, Tweedle A?" Yuri asked turning to Adecor.

Adecor looked fumed, "That's right! I was in bed with a cold for three whole days thanks to you."

"From a river? Are you serious gay fish? How are you a knight?" I said as I stared at him dumbly as he began to give me a glare.

"…How many more of these are there? This is getting pretty boring," Yuri said tiredly.

"…I wonder what'll happen to me," Karol said a bit afraid.

"Nothing, cause I'd punch their lights in before it got to that, baby boy," I said with a smile, which earned me a 'what the hell' look from Karol.

"So, I'll write you both have, 'no signs of remorse' in your reports then…" Adecor said as he began to fill in paper work.

Yuri looked fed up, "Where's that do-nothing captain of yours, anyway? What was his name? Schwann?"

"Playing hooky because he's the big shot," Rita said frustrated and angrily.

Leblanc looked angry, "You dare mock our captain? Sir Schwann is a legendary hero and a veteran of the Great War ten years ago."

"So basically, his eminence would never stoop so low as to deal with nobodies like us," Rita continued to argue and sass.

Adecor angrily broke in, "Quiet, I say! Quiet! Getting on to your next offense…"

At that the door opened, and in walked in the most dangerous man on this planet thus far, not including Zane…

Leblanc quickly took a respectable stance before speaking, "Y-your Excellency Commandant Alexei! To what do we owe this pleasure?!"

The other two knights quickly too a respectable stance, Yuri just staring in astonishment, "Alexei… What…?"

Alexei walked over to look us all in the eye, "All your crimes are hereby pardoned by the good graces of their Highnesses Estellise and Ioder."

Leblanc looked taken aback, "What?! But these foul criminals have disturbed the peace of the empire…! The woman is absolutely merciless!"

I rolled my eyes and spoke sarcastically, "Oh yeah, I'm evil incarnate don't you know."

Alexei turned to me, a tiny flinch as he turned to view Kairi and me, "The Imperial Knights thank you for rescuing Prince Ioder," he then turned to Yuri, "and protecting Princess Estellise."

Khroma then walked over to hand Yuri a bag of gald, "Please take this."

"We've got ne need for this. It's not like we did those things for the sake of the Knights," Yuri said refusing the money.

Khroma turned to look at me and I gave her a glare, "Fuck, no." I couldn't stand Khroma, she was just so… irritating, there she is by both Alexei and Duke, she knows about what they want to do, and yet she does NOTHING to hinder them! Then she just blames it all on Estelle for being a 'foolish' girl.

"I see," Alexei responded as he turned to give all of us a look before turning to leave.

"What about Estelle…?" Yuri asked, wanting to know just what was to become of her.

Alexei turned to him, "She has just given her consent to be returned to the Imperial Capital."

Karol then hopped up out of his seat, "What? … Well, I guess she is a princess, after all."

"The Princess is waiting at the inn. We would be pleased if you made an appearance," Alexei finished up before turning back towards the door to leave.

* * *

-*- Estelle, the Princess -*-

Karol: I was so surprised to find out that Estelle was a princess!

Liana: *mumbles to self* And how stunned would you be if you found out Kairi's the Universal Cornerstone?

Yuri: I had a feeling. She knew Flynn , and she was obviously brought up as a noble…

Rita: Shut up. You knew, already.

Yuri: Maybe…

Liana: If you couldn't figure that out based on where we were when we met her, plus she had a room there…then you're just an idiot, right?

Yuri: !

Karol: Oh man… I wonder if I was rude to her without realizing it?

Yuri: Your language has been unpardonable. Captain Karol, the sentence for insulting royalty is… decapitation.

Karol: !

Yuri: Been nice knowing you.

Karol: What about you and Liana?! You guys are way more rude than I am!

Liana: Of course I am! I don't care if you're the ruler of the universe, I give no fucks!

Kairi: L-Liana! Language! Language!

Yuri: Guess it's off with all our heads then.

Karol: What?! Th-that's…

Rita: Idiots…

* * *

The knights looked between us and the door, with a look that just begged to ask 'did that just happen?'

With the moment of confusion, I took the opportunity to go up and slap the weather doll.

A puff of usual smoke that we'd kinda gotten used to put the knights that weren't use to it on guard, especially when the smoke filled the room so much that visibility just about became zero.

I heard Karol coughing and Rita, Kairi was practically choking, and Yuri and I were calm with covering our nose and mouth to avoid inhalation.

"*cough**cough* I say, just what is going on! *cough**cough*," Adecor got out as he and Boccos waved their hands around to try to get the smoke out.

"Ow ow ow! *cough* Perhaps I should *cough**cough* lay back on the smoke for indoor *cough**cough* appearances," the familiar voice of the chef choked out.

"Halt! Who go there *cough*! Show yourself intruder!" I heard Leblanc say without coughing much like the two wimpy tweedles, I also heard him draw his sword. If we didn't get this smoke out of the room, it may turn into a murder scene with Leblanc accidentally hurting one of us in the thick fog of smoke.

I opened the window to let the smoke out to reveal the Wonder Chef in all his glory, holding his cheek with a stinging pain, "Must you be so violent with me every time you find me?"

"Of course, now what do you got this time?" I said in a pouting tone.

He dusted himself off and pulled out a recipe from his frying pan, "Tada! Today is the wonder known as Fish with Miso Sauce!"

My ears just about perked up… I had never eaten anything with Miso, period! The chance to get to try it was fascinating and appetizing considering how hungry I was.

"Here are the practice ingredients," Wonder Chef said as he handed me the bag, "Gotta go! Till we meet again! Bon Appetit!"

I grabbed his collar before he could 'poof' away, "Oh no you don't…"

"Uh, um, Miss… I really must be going, see I have other chefs in dire need of my genius, so-gah!" Wonder Chef managed to get out as I began to drag him behind me.

"Oh no, you're coming with me into the nearest kitchen and demonstrating and showing me how to cook this. You can't teach someone who's only good learning methods is visual and hands on, you'd fail as an instructor to leave me to figure this," I pouted down at him with a deep scowl as I dragged him.

His face looked like it melted, he was red from next to ears, he just cupped his cheeks like a gushing maiden and blubbered almost sexually, "Oh my~ Such a passionate lady about proper cooking instruction, it's absolutely euphoric~!"

"Yeah, yeah, save it for the stove top," I replied in an 'I Don't Give A Fuck' tone.

"Ah, such bed room talk~! So dirty~ so romantic~!" Wonder Chef squealed out like a gushing fan girl. I didn't care, I just wanted to eat, and right now!

The others watched us leaving the room with wide eyes I'm sure, before I made a turn I heard Adecor speak again along with Kairi, "I say… what did we just witness…?"

"Ummm… a consensual kidnapping…?" Kairi answered oddly from what I could hear as I rounded the corner of a hall to kick open the kitchen door and toss in the Wonder Chef and slammed the door behind me.

"Prepare yourself and the necessary ingredients and cooking tools," I said firmly.

"Ah~! Oh no~! If I do that… If I do that, I won't be able to get married anymore~!" Wonder Chef squealed rolling on the ground a bit earning a weirded out look from me and some kitchen staff.

I rolled my eyes as I put my hair into a ponytail muttering to myself, "What is wrong with this Wonder Chef…? Like seriously…"

* * *

Second chapter done pretty fast this time!

Caryn: I'll say, geez, other chapters take you weeks but this one was like 2-3 days before you emailed me the copy to read.

Cause I actually had planned this one a bit earlier, just like perhaps half of the next chapter had already been planned out in advance, but a lot of it I'm having to take some time to think on how I would respond, what I would seriously do, and then if you or Justin is involved, I have to get you guys in chat to discuss, or have Justin hang out or meet up in a café.

Caryn: How far ahead have you been planning?

Very far… and not evenly spaced either, so far it's just snips from here and there from important times in the game, like I already know how I want to handle breaking into the castle to rescue Estelle, last night in Aurnion, some of Baction Shrine, and I think some of meeting Phaeroh in Mantaic, oh and end game… I got more but it's mainly for Drabbles and Lemons that are more focused around Kairi, not to mention I need to make drabbles for you along the line.

Caryn: Stick to present time planning! And you better give me that Flynn time!

Stingy XT

Next time: Exploring around Heliord… maybe Dahngrest? (I'm sorry, I have no planning to determine where I'll end up *bows*)


	21. 20: The City of HELLiord Nah JK Lol

OMG! Thank you for the first review/s (There's 2 X3 )! Please remember to read drabbles also since those do fill in some gaps in the story…. Or if you'd rather wait till the whole story is done, be my guest, but you will get lost without them XD

Please remember, ( ) parenthesis are MY thoughts, _italics are telepathic talk between me and Kairi_

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Tales of Vesperia, Justin, or Caryn. I DO have permission to use Justin and Caryn though. I OWN myself, Kairi, and my work in this fic. That is all….

* * *

I plated up a bowl of rice and two fish fillets on a plate coated in Miso sauce… they weren't stunningly even… I had a long way to go in gutting, cleaning, and filleting a fish…

One spoonful of rice with a bit of fish atop it drenched in that wonder sauce and I felt my jaw tremble, "Mmmm, so good! I'm seriously a genius!"

The Wonder Chef nodded, "Of course, because you had my expert teaching! Now um, where's my plate?"

I glared up at him, "Bitch this is my plate, and the rest is for the team, weren't you going to 'poof' away? Something about other chefs needing you?"

He slumped and sulked tearfully, "Yes… I do. Though I was hoping for a serving at least…"

I fidgeted nervously, I hated when people played guilt cards on me and start with the sulking, but, "Hey, I'm starving, and the rest of my group has to be hungry too, so tough, sorry man."

He sniffled, "And after you made me undesirable as a wife!"

I slammed my fist down on the table, face red as a tomato at how bad those words sounded in real life, "You're a MAN! I did nothing but make you teach me!"

"Oh… true…" the Wonder Chef said as he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

I waved the smoke away from my area and was about to eat again when I noticed the knights and chef moving to my pot of sauce, pot of rice, and pan of cooked fish.

I glared daggers into them, "Touch any of those and I swear I'll beat you all till you're a bloody mess with nothing but a frying pan and a spoon!"

At that they shuffled away from the stove to allow me to eat in peace as Yuri and the others came in, "Ah guys, grab a plate before these assholes eat the food."

Everyone grabbed a plate and I quickly noted Karol eyeing the food with a hard look. If memory to the game serves right… this was a dish he hates… gah, damnit!

"Uh, baby boy, do you not like Fish with Miso Sauce?" I asked normally, part of me wanted to say, 'I'll make something else' but the other half said, 'Don't spoil him, he needs to eat what's made and that's that!'.

"Yeah… I don't really like Miso," Karol said with a bit of a sick look at his plate.

"Can't be helped, those were the ingredients we had at the time. Be grateful it's at least a meal, some kids on Earth don't even get that much…," I pouted a bit.

"They don't?" Karol asked with wide eyes, now interested.

I shook my head, "Nuh uh. Other countries and continents are poor or experience droughts and troubles with livestock and farmland, I'm sure there are probably other reasons. Their families and them do what they can to get by… like when I was kid, my mom always gave us change in hand so we could fill up the cups the families in Mexico put up near the bridge that were tied on these long make shift poles or give to the kids who'd sell gum or advertise their families taco stand in the street whenever we visited there to buy candy almost once a week. But some kids don't have family and have to fend for themselves, so some kids starve, and the rest are just not sure when their next meal will be; so, they don't complain even if they absolutely hate what gets set on their plates."

"That sounds rough…" Karol said with a sad look, until he began to psyche himself up and began to eat his plate with no complaints.

"Yeah well… resources are only so much on a planet with so many people... and the Earth is anything but kind and forgiving," I replied as I messed with my fish, damnit, now I went and got myself depressed.

"But it's really good though," Kairi said after she swallowed up her spoonful of rice. Her bowl was now empty and her plate emptied, just how hungry was she?!

"You," I blinked incredulously at, "You should really savor the flavor a bit more… you literally inhaled that…"

Kairi turned pink, fidgeting nervously in her seat as Yuri and Rita looked over to see her food all gone.

"Wow, you sure ate that fast," Rita said in amazement.

Before Yuri could remark, Kairi's tummy let out a growl, causing her to cover her tummy and turn red.

"And you're still hungry?!" Yuri said more in shock than amazement.

Kairi rested her head on the table to hide her face, she probably wanted to crawl under a rock and die about now.

"Yuri, it's not nice to pick on someone's metabolism," I teased, making Kairi turned to me with a pleading look that begged me to shut up.

"I'm not picking on her, I'm just saying, hers could stand to lower down a bit. It's a wonder on how she keeps in shape if she eats a lot," Yuri teased back.

My eyebrow twitched, and I menaced Yuri with a spoon, "Oh? You trying to get at something, Lowell? So, me who's fat is all because I eat too much? I seem to recall skipping meals and being just fine."

"I didn't say that at all, and… you're threatening me with a spoon you know," Yuri said with a silly grin.

Fuck that grin! I slapped him with the spoon to make him stop and to stop myself from bursting into laughter, but I still chuckled out, "Ara, a spoon seems to be an effective weapon to me~."

Yuri rubbed his cheeks, "You don't have to tell me. Geez, what is it with you and violence?"

"Violence and me? We're good friends," I grinned from ear to ear.

Everyone just seemed to sweat drop as I gathered up my bag and the bag of practice ingredients, "So, guess now that we're pardoned we can head to the inn to see Estelle and get a room to form a battle plan for tomorrow."

"Yeah, sounds like a plan," Yuri said as he stopped rubbing his now red spoon marked cheek.

"I'll head out first! Excuse me and thank you all for listening to my warning not to eat the damn food, oh, and using the kitchen, bai bai~," I said as I excused myself from the room, the knights by the door moving away to allow me to pass.

* * *

I entered the inn and decided to buy some things and synthesis while Yuri wasn't looking, or else he'd wonder why I keep making things for them… (come to think of it… did he even nab me the items in Caer Bocram? Fuck, I needed to ask him!)

As I ordered things I noticed Alexei heading my way and I literally froze in place, why was this MoFo coming this way?!

"Excuse me young lady, are you preparing to make arrangements at the inn?" Alexei asked once he stood beside me.

"Well… normally I leave the inn payment to Yuri, and I just handle keeping, buying, and making equipment; buying supplies, and food management, ah but Kairi handles dessert since I can't…bake…," I said nervously blurting everything out. (Why the fuck does he want to know if we're staying here or not? He expected us to camp out? Do we really seem that poor?)

"Kairi? That woman with the long reddish-brown hair I presume?" Alexei asked curiously.

I stiffened, (Why does he want to know about Kairi?) nerves were kicking in big time, I really wanted this fucker to leave.

"Y-yeah. Ah, my name's Liana… but you didn't ask that…feel free to forget that…" I said as I turned to the clerk who arrived with my synthesized goods, weapons, life bottles, magic lenses, and gummies.

Alexei took a good look at my haul with wide eyes, "Are you by chance a noble, Miss Liana? That seems to be quite the haul."

"Huh? Me? A noble? Nah, I just killed enough monsters and gathered enough of their materials to sell and make enough to get supplies… although prices do vary at different towns, but some things are all the same price," I replied, my tone beginning to return to normal as my nerves were now switching from panic mode to irritation mode.

"Then may I also take it that Miss Kairi isn't a noble as well?" Alexei asked just plainly… would it kill to express some emotion?

"Yeah, she's not a noble," I replied, he didn't need to know if she was or wasn't.

Alexei seemed silent in thought, and I tried to take the opportunity to slip away, but his next remark caught me off guard a bit aways, "Good sir, I'd like to make arrangements for the night for that young lady and her companions. What suites do you still have available?"

I almost fell over with everything in my arms, I hadn't put it up since I didn't want him to see the English writing on my bag. (Why is he paying for our room?! Did he put surveillance cameras in there or something?! Why am I complaining?! It's a free room, actually, it's a free suite! What the hell?!)

"What about this room, good sir?" The clerk said, showing some pictures of the room, and I almost spit up blood, that looked like a room straight out of the Queen of England's palace!

"This room has a wonderful balcony view, with a minimum of 5 beds available up to 8 beds optional, free room service and a complimentary meal and breakfast, the sheets are made of the finest-," the clerk went on spouting the details to Alexei as I felt myself gazing at the Commandant of the Knights with a wary gaze. Just why did he want to give us this kind of luxury? For protecting the princess? We had been wanted criminals an hour ago.

"Very well, I shall make arrangements for the night," Alexei responded as he handed over what seemed to be A LOT of cash from out of the corner of my eye, "Please place the name as Lowell for the room. He and his companions will be taking that room. Now I require a room for myself."

"Y-Yes! Very well, sir. What type of room would you be seeking?" the clerk said incredibly at the fact that this man had just bought a suite for another party and was just now acquiring a room for himself, must feel like his lucky day. I was getting warier and warier…

I quickly exited the inn and began to fill the items into my bag quickly, not caring if I dumped them into the tub or on the bed in the craft room. I then noticed Yuri heading this way, and got up to go meet up with him, "Yo, Yuri!"

"Sorry to hold you up. You been waiting long? Huh? Hey, why are you so pale?" Yuri asked with an arm on his hip in his usual standing pose when he wanted to know something that wasn't so important.

"Huh? Oh, sorry. It's just that… someone got us a room already so… yeah, I kinda got the willies on that…" I said, not sure how to phrase it, though I was so on edge.

"Someone paid for our room? Who was it?" Yuri asked curiously in shock.

"GAH! The Mother Fucking Commandant of the Knights paid for our room! Even though I dunno why! Maybe cause we didn't take the money earlier! Either way! Just being by him gave me the chills! At first I was like a block of puddy, then it got more annoying and I wanted to slug him but then he started getting us a room that looked like the castle of England and I started to wonder if he put a camera in there or if he had a secret passage in there and I'm seriously freaking out, I don't like that guy one bit I wouldn't touch him with a 39 and a half foot pole and I wouldn't trust him with anything, but he kept asking things anyways and what's with him and would it kill him to show emotion or talk like he's human and-" I stopped and realized I was out of breath when Yuri gripped my shoulders quickly and really tightly.

"Whoa, Whoa! Slow down there, Liana, Easy! Stop between sentences and take a breath, sheesh," Yuri said in pure shock and amusement at my long winded, one breath rant.

I began to gasp for air, patting Yuri's hand to let him know he could let go of me, "I'm *pant* s-sorry *pant* but I'm seriously *pant* starting to *pant* freak out! *pant*"

I began regaining my breath, when the tweedles appeared.

"Wait, I saaay!" Adecor shouted.

"Wait, you!" Boccos shouted as the both of them ran up to us.

Yuri turned to them with a slight grin, "Hey, it's Tweedle-A and Tweedle-B!"

"Don't call us that!" Boccos said irritated.

I managed to stand up straight now, "Very well then, Pervit and Gay Fish, what's up?"

"Do not call us that either!" Boccos said getting more irritated.

"Something we can help you two with?" Yuri asked normally, like a guy preparing to run an errand for a family member.

"Even if you both have a direct pardon from His Highness Ioder, I say, that does not change the fact that you two committed crimes against the empire!" Adecor said in a fiery tone.

"As members of the Imperial Knights, our honor will not allow us to simply let that slide!" Boccos chimed up angrily.

"Honor? Sounds more like pride, and pride is one of the seven deadly sins, don't you know?" I teased, not that I wasn't a ball of pride myself, but I could at least admit to myself and others if asked, I was a sinful woman, but that's what makes me, me.

"Silence! Yuri Lowell! Woman! You will both battle with us here, I say, fair and square!" Adecor shouted.

"Dude, I got a name y'know, and we're right here, what's with the shouting?" I said as I rubbed my ears from a slight ringing.

"If you two beat us, we'll recognize you both as innocent of your crimes!" Boccos added, shouting also, could I just slug them now?

"Don't make claims you can't back up. Since when did you two have the authority to forgive people their crimes?" Yuri asked mockingly.

"Regardless, we must battle!" Adecor shouted.

"Battle!" Boccos shouted in sync.

This seriously felt like a Pokémon battle encounter… where's the Pokémon battle theme OST when you need it to play?!

"…If that's what it takes to make you happy, I guess we can humor you," Yuri replied, as I nodded, wanting to take my frustration of being spooked by Alexei out on something.

"Excellent! Come with us!" Boccos chimed happily, he was such a cocky bastard… and not in the below the pants kind of way.

* * *

Together the two knights led us out of the town to the plains to fight. I felt myself become mentally exhausted already, just why was I here for this tutorial? I don't even have a blastia, so burst artes are out of the question for me… Fatal Strike, maybe I could pull off over time… but a Burst Arte?

I placed on my Champion Sheep Knuckles and found myself wondering if Terca Lumireis had any other Gauntlets/Knuckles/Combat Bracers that were more powerful than these?

"Kiss your freedoms goodbye, for it ends today!" Boccos shouted as he squared up beside Adecor, but it was obvious, the match up was Adecor vs. Yuri, and I was using Boccos as a soccer ball again.

"I say, prepare to face the Imperial Knights' ultimate fighting technique: the burst arte!" Adecor shouted also, stating what this tutorial is.

Yuri just sighed big time, "Again, you're claiming regular techniques as our own… That doesn't belong to the Knights!"

"Yeah! Get your copyrights straight!" I shouted as I pumped my fist up and down in protest.

Adecor just looked pissed, "I say, be quiet!"

I rolled my eyes, "Oh no, that would violate my first amendment rights if I obeyed, ya know?"

Yuri looked in thought, "The Burst Arte, huh… I've heard of it before, but…"

Boccos now turned attention to Yuri, "You don't know how it's done? You fool!"

"I say, we shall show you!" Adecor shouted proudly, smirking rather confidently, not realizing he was about to 'actually' teach Yuri how to do it, "But before that happens, you two shall be reduced to no more than worthless caterpillars crawling on the ground!"

I scoffed, "Sorry to disappoint you, but I've never been able to pull off the 'worm', I ain't got the moves like Jagger…"

Immediately after my response, Adecor went into Over Limits, "I say, raugh!"

"Maybe it has something to do with Over Limit…" Yuri said to me, as I gave him a dumb stare.

"Like I know? For all I can tell he just maybe pulled Over Limit to put in more power," I replied rolling my eyes.

"Go! Show him how it's done, Adecor!" Boccos shouted out, making us turn our attention back to the two stooges.

Adecor ran over in front of Yuri, "I say, watch me now…! The arcane arte of the Imperial Knights!"

Yuri just dodged as Adecor swung his sword at him.

Boccos just looked shocked, "It didn't hit him! What are you doing?!"

I just rolled my eyes and sassed, "Uhm, dodging? Shouldn't that be obvious and expected when a sword is in your face, idiot?"

Boccos just glared at me while Yuri basically solved the puzzle, "Huh. Burst artes can be linked from an arcane arte. I wonder if I could imitate that…"

Adecor just scoffed, "Ha, there's no way an amateur could do something like that, I say!"

I sighed bored as Yuri went into Over Limit, "I'll blow you away!"

I tilted my head, "Yuri… why do you keep shouting that when you Over Limit? You keep activating my dirt brain…"

Adecor was stunned momentarily by the action, swaying a bit, "I'm full thank you…"

"And you're not helping!" I shouted at Adecor, my face pink a bit at the unsavory images that just popped into my head thanks to that dialogue.

Yuri just turned to give me a wide-eyed look, not expecting me to say that.

Boccos began to panic, "Wah, be careful! Yuri Lowell's going to attack!"

"In what way?!" I shrieked, my face pink now at all my dirt brain's images as I basically tugged at my hair.

"…I don't actually know any of those, but how about this?! Arcane arte…! Crushing Eagle!" Yuri said as he shrugged off my commentary and got back into the fray performing his Crushing Eagle, and within a second of using it, was in position to strike, "You're dead! Divine Wolf!"

Adecor was now on the ground getting up quickly adjusting his helmet to get back into the fight. I just tilted my head at the first set of dialogue Yuri said, I didn't recall that in game… but then again… he never knew Crushing Eagle before until now… so I guess it makes sense.

"Ngaaah! Burst arte!" Boccos said in amazement and shock.

"I say, what a terrible turn of events!" Adecor shouted in frustration.

I rolled my eyes again, "Haven't you guys learned that Yuri picks up things quickly from back with Over Limits? Or are you guys just that slow?"

At that the two became fired up, and some good 'exercise' as Yuri would refer to this as, ensued until sunset.

The scene just seemed to repeat itself, Yuri was fighting Adecor still while I used Boccos as a seat, "Done anytime soon? Or should I have a crack at him?"

"Nah, I'm good," Yuri said as he knocked Adecor over on his ass for like the millionth time, but the big lipped bugger just kept getting up for more.

At Adecor's persistence, Boccos got his second wind as I felt him move under me, and I quickly hopped off to avoid a sword on my ass, "WHOA! Hey!"

"I am not a chair!" Boccos shouted angrily at me.

I shrugged, "Could've fooled me, you're perfectly sized, perfectly squishy, and nicely round, you make for an excellent chair!"

He charged at me in his rolling attack and I was almost reminded of Choji from Naruto, "That attack would work if you were MUCH MUCH bigger. Hang on, I'll just get you down again."

I began to charge at him, until a shooting pain hit the top of my right foot, "Ah!"

I fell flat on my face, my foot and leg absolutely throbbing in pain. The toll of the journey, my overweight body, hardly any brakes and lots of fighting… my feet and legs have tendon issues… the toll was too much!

"Gghhh," I managed to hiss out from clenched teeth, Boccos just staring at me in shock for a bit.

"Liana! You okay?" Yuri said as he turned to me while his sword was on Adecor's sword.

"Oh yeah, I'm just peachy!" I shouted sarcastically, my hormones kicking in, the pain wasn't making me any happier.

"Haha, now who's the chair," Boccos said as he stood in front of me.

"What…? What did you just call me, you fat midget?" I grinned up at him evily, my anger boiling, "I dare you to say that again…"

Boccos gulped but kept his ground, though he couldn't find the courage to say any words.

"Let me remind you…" I glared as I burst into Over Limits, "WHO THE FUCK THE CHAIR IS!"

I swung my aching right leg around and kicked Boccos who was off guard from the Over Limit in a round house kick to the face, sending him flying a good 50 feet.

"Boccos!" Adecor shouted in surprise, the round midget didn't get up at all this time.

"Ouch, she hit him really hard," Yuri sweat dropped as he stared at Boccos, he stiffened up the second he heard me shout though.

"Yuri Lowell! You better fucking finish beating Gay Fishes Ass so we can leave RIGHT NOW! Gggh! I MEAN IT OR ELSE I'M TAKING YOU DOWN TOO!" I shouted angrily as I sat up and removed my shoe to check my foot that now had a black spot on the top center of it as I expected.

Yuri just knocked down Adecor who got up again and turned to me for a few seconds, "Geez, what is it with you and violence these days? First back at Caer Bocram and now here?"

"I AM ON MY MOTHER FUCKING PERIOD! MY LEGS AND FEET FEEL LIKE SHIT AND I CAN'T MOVE! AND YOU DESERVED THAT ONE AT CAER BOCRAM! YOU PREFER I SLUG YOU INSTEAD?!" I shouted, no longer feeling reserved.

Yuri dodged Adecor and turned to hit him on the head, "Seriously, how did I earn that one?!"

"YOU BROUGHT UP MY MOTHER FUCKING TRAUMA YOU BITCH! BY RIGHTS I SHOULDA SLUGGED YOU RATHER THAN SLAP YOU!" I shouted as I rubbed my foot to hope to soothe the pain, no dice that only made me wince and hiss in pain.

Yuri sweat dropped, he had been called many things… but never a bitch…

"Sorry about this Tweedle A, gonna have to make this quick or else I'll be in pretty big trouble," Yuri said to Adecor as he got up again.

With another burst arte, Yuri managed to knock out Adecor, "No hard feelings, men… there's just a very angry lady on my case."

"WHAT YOU SAY LOWELL?!" I shouted angrily as I tried to figure out how to get up and move, or what I was gonna do if it was still this bad tomorrow.

"Nothing…" Yuri said with a sweat drop as he sheathed his sword and walked over to me. The second he noticed my foot he slightly winced, "Ouch, now where'd that come from? I don't recall Tweedle B even hitting you once."

I wanted to shout again, but I grumbled angrily before answering sharply in a loud voice that wasn't quite a scream, "It's cause I'm a fucking fat bitch! My legs can barely take my top weight, I don't have anymore doubts that I probably got stress fractures on the top of my feet due to all the waking, climbing, fighting, and running, ALL which I'm not used to! Or it could be tendon troubles… still it's all cause I'm fat!"

Yuri just sweat dropped as he tried to cheer me out of my angry mood, "Though… you still have a waist, your stomach and abdomen aren't really that big or round, it's just a middle-sized pouch. Overweight for your height yeah, but not fat."

I wasn't having it, "IF I SAY I'M FAT, THEN I'M FAT!"

"Okay, have it your way," Yuri just sweat dropped as he turned around and knelt in front of me.

"Huh?" I said in confusion as I stared at his back; believe me, Yuri Lowell is not one for piggy back rides…

"Hop on, it's not like you can stand up and walk back to the town," Yuri said logically.

I stared uncomfortably at him, this SO was not him but at the same time, not like he has a choice, "Fine… but if you squeeze my ass, so help me your hair will have patches!"

"I won't, geez," Yuri said in complaint, starting to get a bit irritated that I wasn't hoping on.

"…." I put myself on his back and almost laughed and wanted to tease when he shivered at the press of my breasts on his back, but he got up slowly, not sure if he underestimated my weight, I was 235 lbs, "Ya okay there, bub?"

"Y-yeah," Yuri replied a bit strained, but kept silent, probably not wanting me to yank his hair if something came out.

He staggered a bit as he carried me back to the town.

"Say, Yuri?" I said plainly.

"Hm? What is it?" Yuri asked.

"Did you get the items from Caer Bocram like I asked?" I asked sternly this time… I wanted those items, he better not have skimped cause Estelle told him not to!

"Yeah, Estelle wasn't happy at all," Yuri replied with a chuckle at the memory.

"Say, Yuri?" I asked again, this time almost singing it as an opportunity presented itself.

"What?" Yuri asked, a tiny bit irritated at another question being asked.

"…You enjoying them?" I teased with a large grin and pressed my breasts more firmly into his back… and he almost dropped me on the ground right then and there as he stepped wrong and almost sent us toppling over.

* * *

Once we reached the inn, Yuri let out a sigh of relief, "Man…Nothing like some good exercise before turning in for the night."

I frowned at his response though and pressed my finger down and around on the top of his head, "Oh? Which exercise? Carrying me here or the battle with the two tweedles?"

"Both…" Yuri mumbled, but I heard, and retaliated with a nip on his head, "OW! Hey! No biting!"

I pulled back and frowned, "Well slapping you doesn't seem to be giving you brain cells, so I figured a change of tactics was in order to promote brain cell growth."

"By biting my head?!" Yuri said frustrated and a bit angrily.

"Yep *pop*" I replied simply, "Would you rather I lick it instead?"

At that sentence Yuri shivered and kept quiet, he probably found that more disturbing than a chop, slap, or a bite. Yuri then carefully shifted forward to make sure I was on his back as he freed one hand to open the inn door and enter. The others were standing by the front desk along with Caryn and Flynn, my head tilted as I saw Kairi with 2 large jars at her feet and her arms and the jars filled with flowers; but we ignored them for a second to go upstairs.

"Yuri?" I asked curiously, he musta figured what I wanted to ask, because he answered.

"We're gonna go see Estelle. Remember? She wanted to see us, plus she might be able to heal up your legs and feet," Yuri replied as we got to the second level and noticed a guarded door.

Yuri and I introduced ourselves and how 'Estelle' had wanted to see us.

"Lady Estellise is resting," the knight responded sternly, holding his place; he wasn't about to make any exceptions.

"So much for that idea, let's head down to the others and get a room," Yuri replied to me as he turned around to head back down the hall and downstairs.

"We already have a room though… didn't you hear my freak out hours ago?" I replied back with a pout.

"Oh, right," Yuri said with a silly grin, I had to resist the urge to bite him again.

"So…. What happened here? Did a storm blow in all these flowers or what?" I asked towards the group and Yuri walked forward.

"Hey, I thought you went to see Estellise?" Rita asked curiously.

"We tried, no luck," I answered as I stared at all the flowers.

"Yeah, she seems to be asleep already. She must have been exhausted today. I didn't want to wake her up. We can still talk tomorrow," Yuri replied, making me tilt my head at his many cut up sentences.

"Right. Why don't we get a room then?" Karol suggested happily, probably glad to not have to camp out.

"Will you be needing a room then?" the clerk asked curiously.

"We got one… It's under the name 'Lowell'," I replied as I gave the clerk an odd eye.

He took notice of me and jumped a little before turning his book and finding the name in registrations, "Ah yes, you're the young lady who was with that gentleman. Your room has been prepared and is available at your leisure."

He handed Karol the key since Yuri had his hands full and I turned to the flowers again, "So… can anyone explain all that though?"

"Uh… umm… long story…" Kairi said flustered as she held onto an arm full of flowers.

Caryn grabbed one jar with flowers and Flynn grabbed the other that seemed to have some lemons and herbs in it, "Allow us to help take these to your room."

"Don't need to 'allow' Flynn, just do," Caryn said as she hip bumped him teasingly.

"Alright… but give us the story once we're in," I replied as Yuri looked curious now too.

* * *

Rita just sat on her bed as Karol laid down to sleep, exhausted from the events of today. Yuri plopped me down on a bed and Kairi quickly came to my side after she dumped her arm full of flowers near the jars Caryn and Flynn set down, "You okay?"

"Yes and no… my weight finally got to my feet…" I replied to her as she knelt on the ground and began healing my feet.

"So, about those jars and flowers?" Yuri asked curiously as he leaned up against the wall, arms crossed staring intently on Kairi.

Kairi looked a little unsure but nodded, "Uhm, well… after you left to go see Estelle, I headed out to join either Liana or you… whoever I could find first. Though I ended up getting distracted by a pleasant smell, so I turned and found a flower cart selling all kinds of flowers and herbs."

"And you just had to buy some?" Yuri asked curiously with a silly grin.

Kairi cheeks turned red, "N-N-No! I didn't buy them at all! I was only looking… and then… the owner got angry… then that man from earlier, Alexei I think was his name, he came by… asked me if I liked them. I didn't want a bouquet or anything, I just saw them and thought of making some rose water, or rose tea, or sun tea, or some deserts with them… though I had said that out loud and he bought them."

"He bought them?" Yuri said with wide eyes, wondering just why the Commandant of the Knights was up to.

"Don't be so surprised Yuri. The Commandant is a very kind-hearted man," Flynn responded which only made me roll my eyes (Kind-hearted my ass…).

"Yyyeeeaaahhhh," Caryn replied sarcastically with a roll of her eyes before stars replaced them and she turned to me with an almost feline grin, "Oh you shoulda been there Lian'! He was totally all over Kairi~!"

I sweat dropped at the thought, but… it was Kairi… it was always Kairi…, "So… is that why he got us this fancy ass room?"

"Mhm, he totally thinks Kairi's a total booty call!" Caryn replied as Flynn looked a bit appalled at our 'foul language', "I saw him hitting on her and she was all like 'But I don't need this many' and he was all like 'though with this much you can make all the desserts you wish' and I was all like, 'hey pal, my friend doesn't swing that way, she's not something to buy' and he just basically said goodbye, turned tail and left."

"I wasn't aware anything like that happened," Flynn said a bit surprised, "though certainly his actions can't be for the reasons you think they are."

Me and Caryn gave him a dumb look, "On Earth… if someone at a bar just starts buying you drinks… it's not out of respect, repayment, or any chivalry thing… it's usually because they want something and most the time it starts with the letter 's' and ends with 'ex'…although it could be the next thing which is a phone number."

Kairi's face was now a tomato as she let go of my foot, "All done…"

I tossed my feet up, "Huzzah! I am healed!"

"Hallelujah!" Caryn cheered silly.

"I would normally go into freak out mode, but now that I know the reason, I'm calmer," I replied calmly, "It's nothing so big. Besides he's not even Kairi's type."

Kairi gave a nervously silly grin at my response, but Caryn's teasing face began to make her sweat, "Oh, and just what is Kairi's type I wonder~."

Flynn seemed to panic as Yuri looked curiously at the small girl, "It's certainly nothing we need to know of."

"Speaking of hitting on Kairi, you shoulda been there to see that Purple, Sadistic, Wannabe Drag Queen Knight we met at Caer Bocram!" I replied with eyes filled with stars now, trash talk was girl talk in me and Caryn's case, "He took one look at her and was all villain cliché with his whole, 'a lady as beautiful as you should be on the arm of the most handsome and powerful guy in the world'… and guess what Kairi did?"

"What? What?!" Caryn said, practically on her knees on the bed hopping up and down like a hyper excited puppy.

"She basically gripped Yuri's back arm and I was like, 'Oh look at that she listened to you, you're not worthless~'," I said mockingly, trying to imitate how sassy I was feeling back then, I then turned to Yuri with a teasing smirk, "How does it feel to be the world's most handsome and powerful, Mr. Lowell?"

Yuri just chuckled but gave us his signature cocky, confident smile, "Pretty damn good."

Caryn chuckled, "I don't think a grip counts as draping… so, sorry he lost that privilege to that title."

I gasped and turned to Kairi, "She's right! Kairi! You've offended Yuri, go drape yourself on his arm right now!"

Flynn looked pale as Kairi's face steamed red as she shrieked, "W-Wh-wh-what?!"

"C-Certainly there's no need for that either! Please refrain from such actions!" Flynn said flustered, Yuri continually giving him odd looks.

"Hmmm…" I said boredly as I stared at the Knight, I then turned to Caryn, "We're not even buzzed or anything and he's this uptight? Does he ever let loose?"

"At times a bit… but not by much," Caryn answered, her cheeks a tinge pink… oh I wanted to make her spill what's going on so bad right now.

"Ma ii ka," I shrugged as I laid back on my bed, waving my arms like I was making a snow angel through the very soft smooth silk, this was a very different quality than the satin sheet on my dad's bed, this wasn't even close...

"This stuff is smooth as… whipped cream," Caryn said as she rubbed the sheet, carefully trying not to curse even though I was the most foul-mouthed one here, "Beats the cotton sheets our room has."

"With as fancy as this is, I almost expected candy to be on the pillow you know, or a fruit basket," I mentioned with a giggle, until a knock was on the door and I stopped rolling and waving to hop up, unsure of who it was since in the game we're never allowed to see what goes on before bed time.

Yuri answered it and was immediately overwhelmed when a large basket of flowers and lots of small colored boxes was shoved into his arms, "Whoa! What's all this?"

"I spoke too soon…" I sweat dropped as I watched Yuri try to shuffle the basket in his arms to see the man who handed it to him.

The man cleared his throats, "Compliments of the hotel and a gift for a," he quickly read a small card, "Miss Kairi?"

"Huh?" Kairi said staring dumbly at the basket in Yuri's arms.

"Anyways, I was told to deliver that here, so please enjoy your stay," the man said unenthusiastically as he bowed lightly and turned to leave.

Flynn shut the door due to Yuri's filled hands and Kairi and I exchanged odd looks, with Caryn joining in. I felt a need to speak in medieval tongue, "That man doth try to woo thee. Be thee thy righteous self, refuse his advances and denounce that vile man."

"Lian', you don't know what you just said, do you?" Caryn said with a funny grin, wanting to laugh.

"Nope *pop*, I made that shit up thinking about Shakespeare," I responded, earning various sweat drops from everyone.

Caryn began to giggle as she turned to Flynn and Yuri, "So what are those?"

Flynn took some boxes and looked at them and then at the flowers, "These appear to be an assortment of teas and herbs."

"They don't look cheap either…" Yuri said with a sweat drop forming.

"Like I said… total booty call…" Caryn said with a giggle, making Flynn look a bit uncomfortable at someone accusing the Commandant of such things.

Yuri walked over and bent down to hand Kairi the basket, "Well, these are yours."

"Heke?" Kairi squeaked out as her face went red and she began to tremble.

Flynn grabbed the back of Yuri's collar and spoke seriously, "Just drop the basket by her bed and come with me for a minute."

"Hey, Flynn! Hey! Stop yanking! Alright, alright, I'm coming!" Yuri complained as he dropped the basket on the ground in front of Kairi and argued as Flynn yanked him out of the room.

"…What's that about?" Caryn asked a bit weirded out, though nerves were on her face big time.

"Those two are friends, right? They probably got things to talk about," Rita answered as she laid down, smiling a little as she lay on the soft sheets. Karol had fallen fast asleep and was now rolling on his bed, muttering things here and there.

Repede just let out a tiny snort of air and made himself comfortable on the cushions that were near the corner of the room for like a small lounging area, probably wanting to sleep. And Kairi just lay in the bed beside mine, not sleeping yet but shifting her gaze from the door to us as we continued to converse.

"I… guess…" I said a little nervously; for some reason the fact that Flynn seemed on edge made me a bit nervous as to what they were talking about, "Wanna just listen to something while they talk?"

"Sure, though I think those two are trying to sleep…" She leaned in close to whisper to me so Rita wouldn't hear, "and the last thing I was is fireballs flying my way."

"I'll lower the volume, lets see… we're in a fancy ass room… why not some Lindsey Stirling?" I suggested with a small giggle and a grin.

"I didn't even see her, I couldn't even get through most your list, I had to fast scroll… I thought your phone was filled with Initial D and Vocaloid songs from what I saw," Caryn said with a sweat drop.

"Hey, Eurobeat intensifies things," I said as I put my head up high and spoke in a loud whisper to not shout, "It's 100% guaranteed!"

"So which ones do you have?" Caryn asked as she scooted over on the bed.

I paled a little, "Ummm, I haven't heard ALL of her songs… but I got a good handful at least…"

Caryn just raised an eyebrow at me, as if to mock me for not doing so or having all her songs available… (Come on! I love Lindsey's music, but only some is enough to stick to my head and make me want more, some of the others don't though, guess I'm picky).

I just decided to go with the first song I ever heard from her, which I sadly at the time didn't hear from her original video, it was on a video to show different cosplays at an anime convention I wanted to go to, yet can't ever afford to go…

We listened in silence as we heard Flynn and Yuri's loud mumbling on the other side of the door, those two certainly were at it right now. If they weren't mumbling enough to know it was conversation and just let out a few at a time… you'd think they were getting it on behind the door in the hallway… and that thought alone made my brain wonder who would be topping if they were HAHA…

Just as the thought crossed my mind, the two entered the room again, both looking irritated at each other. Flynn however cleared up in no time as he noticed us with my phone, hearing instrumental music, "Miss Liana, what song is this one called? It's rather harmonious."

"It's not a song per say, there are no words, it's all instrumental… so I suppose it'd just be called either music or a track? It's called the 'Song of the Caged Bird'. It was my first song I ever heard from Lindsey Stirling, I got quite a bit of her music, but not quite all of them… I'm kinda picky with what I like to hear," I answered him with an odd look; I wasn't used to talking to him at all, "We can't really hear much of her others since we don't want to wake the others."

"I see… then Caryn and I should leave you all to rest and sleep," Flynn said normally, for once he wasn't glaring daggers at me… it felt so unnatural.

That made me smirk as a devious thought just popped into my mind to have him relinquish that normal gaze. I grabbed my bag and turned around as he turned to Caryn who was now pouting, grabbing a sleeping tank top and shorts to sleep in. Quickly I slipped on the shorts under my dress to avoid Flynn seeing my panties, Yuri seemed to be looking out the window.

"Very well then Mister Flynn, you two should have a nice night," I said as I took off my dress, turning my eye to see if my plan had worked, and I have my hands on my bra, set to pull it off once-

"Yes, Good Night Miss LianAAWWAAUUUAAAHhhhhhh!" Flynn began normally until he turned to me, triggering me to turn my eyes away and pick up my bra as if I didn't notice him, then all hell broke loose.

From the other corner of my eye I saw Rita beginning to pop some anime veins, she probably wanted us to shut up really bad now.

"M-M-M-Mi-Mi-Miss-Miss L-L-Lian-Liana! Wh-WHa-What are you, d-d-doing?! P-Please! Put your dress back on! Or a shirt!" Flynn said as his face which was now a tomato was staring at me with a mixture of anger and embarrassment.

"Hm? Oh? It's not that bad, it's just some side boob, not like you can see the whole thing… do you want to see the real whole thing?" I teased and smirked back as I noticed Caryn both laughing in her hands and giving me death glares. Yuri was just smirking against the wall but looking away with pink cheeks.

"N-N-No, I don't need to see anything!" Flynn said as he fumed a bit.

"This coming from the guy who's not looking away or covering his eyes?" I smirked happily, "Sure you really don't want a peak?"

At that Flynn became redder than… what could be redder than a tomato? Blood? Either way, Flynn seemed to catch on and turned around towards the door, "I-I'll be, taking my leave! C-C-Caryn, if you don't remember where the room is at, please, follow me."

"Okay, night Liana and Kairi," Caryn said as she waved to us and followed after Flynn.

I put on my top, no bra cause that can get uncomfortable and I'd been sleeping with it lately, and laid down in bed smirking that things seemed to be back to normal.

"You sure that was a smart move? You just got pardoned after all?" Yuri asked with a cocky grin.

"On what charges can he arrest me? Public Indecency? I'm in 'MY' room at the inn. Public Nuisance? Once again, this isn't out in public, it's in the privacy of a room. Harassment? He can't truly prove that without evidence that I was doing it on purpose, he just happened to see me when I was changing clothes," I replied with a smirk.

"You got an alibi for everything then, huh?" Yuri said with a silly grin now, making me throw a pillow at him… not it didn't connect, that fucker can dodge.

"When it comes down to authority, Liana likes to know the rules, so she can find loop holes," Kairi answered with a giggle.

"Fuck yeah," I replied as I covered myself; I'd shower up tomorrow morning, right now I was tired as all heck. My legs despite being healed were going to need attention too. I had put my phone back in my bag to charge it up and put it away to avoid Rita waking up in the middle of the night to try to mess with it.

"Why am I not surprised," Yuri answered as he walked over to his bed, sensing we were all ready to sleep in. For once, with no knights after us and no assassins, we could all get a good sleep for once. Well, except me, I had nightmares with dinosaurs and bones… it's a long, stupid story from my childhood. Short version; My big sister, my friend, my little brother loved to traumatize me day and night…with a certain movie in a game called 3-D Dinosaur Adventures…it still traumatizes me…

* * *

Fwah, finally done.

Caryn: I was worried when you didn't get back to me!

We originally were going to go to Vegas and California for a week… no luck, my Mom got sick. So to make up for that, we went to the casino, horse races, out to eat, and the extra money we saved up went to paying for my van, dental work my dad needed, and trying to fix my Mom's electronic Wheel Chair.

Caryn: So… about that Flynn time?

You wont get another drabble until we hit Dahngrest, then I'll work on drabbles and get to work on more chapters.

Caryn: On that note, what was the traumatizing movie?

*shivers* It's actually searchable… if you go to google, click videos, and type this in the search bar '3-D Dinosaur Adventures Tyrannosaurus comes alive' it should be the second one, the one that says it was Uploaded by KGrove94 ….*shivers*

Caryn: *watches* I don't see the traumatizingness of it…

It just does! When my sister made me watch that one time with her when I was little, I freaked out! I literally flipped my shit and ran to climb and hide on top of my dresser which was like an inch less than the size of the door! Not to mention the song was so creepy it stuck to my head like glue! It's the type of music that should go in a horror film! I was scarred so badly mentally with all the trauma they gave me at home, that at school at 10 years old, when we were watching a movie and in the beginning when trailers played, a trailer for the movie 'Dinosaur' came on… I cried so hard the teachers had to remove me and no matter how much they tried to calm me down and assure me that wasn't the movie we were watching… I wouldn't go back in the room, so I had to have a substitute teacher with me as I played in the playground until the movie was done… hurray for free playtime and having the swings to yourself!

Caryn: You are a total weirdo.

But you love me…. Right Q-Q

Caryn: I LOVE YOU!

:D I love you too :'D speaking of love… I finally got reviews on this story :D

Caryn: Oh really?

Yeah, and they love my Wonder Chef and Sass.

Caryn: Fuck, they're supposed to love me D:

You're not a main character…

Caryn: *turns to dust*

Ah… well… I got to clean up Caryn. Thank you so much for the reviews *o* I hope to continue to be as nuts as I am… and please…. No T-Rexes… ever…

Next time: More Heliord and Dahngrest!

Translation and Note:

Ma ii ka = About the equivalent of 'Oh Well'.

Kairi's 'Heke' is an immitation of Hamtaro XD


	22. 21: An Extra Day to Stay and Play

Please remember, ( ) parenthesis are MY thoughts, _italics are telepathic talk between me and Kairi_

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Tales of Vesperia, Justin, or Caryn. I DO have permission to use Justin and Caryn though. I OWN myself, Kairi, and my work in this fic. That is all….

* * *

I woke up to a humming in my ear, my ears and nose made up for my eyes; my guess… it had to be the blastia… oh, not looking forward to that...I'm staying indoors…

No one else seemed to wake up, so I grabbed my bag and headed to take a shower and go to the bathroom as quickly as I could before someone else woke up. Why? Cause one thing I learned in college is that… first thing humans need to do when they fist wake up? It's pee… cause when the body is at rest, your bladder and bowels are holding it in and once you're awake and fully functional… well… time to run and go!

This was the FANICEST bathroom I'd ever seen; gold almost everywhere, the floor and counters were like pure marble, crystal like statues and beautiful lower centerpieces… and don't get me started on the vanity that was at end of the sink… The shower had like multiple heads around, I guess to hit you everywhere to give a perfect all angle spray and cleaning…. Lion Heads filled the bath, not to mention the bath was HUGE! There also was a jar of rose petals…. I guess for those who want a romantic dip with their partner… and Alexei gave us this room… well technically he had to have done it for Kairi… That made me shiver in discomfort despite the warm bath water.

Once my shower and bath were done, everyone seemed to wake up one at a time creating a line for the bathroom. Everyone having a shot to do their business and coming out to decide who'd take a shower next. Once Kairi was done and we waited on the next people, I helped her pack up the tea boxes, flowers, and herbs in her bag… problem was these jars wouldn't fit through, they were a pinch too big… Still we decided to head down to fill it up with water, so she could set some tea in it to make some 'Sun' Tea…

What is Sun Tea? It's just regular Sweet Tea… only you don't brew it indoors by boiling water then steeping… you basically set the tea bag, well 'bags' for a jar this size and water out in a sunny place until it fully brews and steeps with the sun's help, then you sweeten it up to taste.

When one jar was set with tea bags, we began wondering if we had time to go make some Rose Water but decided against it. We also wondered on what we were gonna do with these two jars, how to carry them, and how to preserve them if we couldn't shove them into our bags! I sighed… Alexei could've gotten Kairi some jars a bit smaller in size… but NO! He had to pick ones that look like they could hold 3-4 Gallons… they're not as big as a 5-gallon bucket of paint… but good grief it was heavy…even with that handle bar on top near the lid for 'easy' carriage. We may have to just scrap them…

The humming was getting on my nerves, I just wanted us to hurry to the building, so we could talk to Flynn, the blastia can go berserk, and we all get to go back to the inn for another day of rest~ (Ah, I'm so lazy~). I turned when I heard footsteps, hoping it was the group, but it was just Caryn.

"I'm surprised you're up this early," Caryn said with a bit of a yawn.

"I'm surprised you're not with Flynn," I replied, "You're usually stuck to him like glue."

"True. He woke up earlier than me, I'm fixing to head to where he is now," Caryn said as she rubbed her eyes, adjusting the strap of her bag on her back.

I sweat dropped, "That guy could stand to not be so punctual… I mean work can be important… but beauty sleep and all."

Caryn just chuckled, still half asleep, too sleepy to even realize I was dissing Flynn a little.

As if on a cue, the others came down to regroup with us in the lobby. Karol was the first to reply, "Hey, it's Caryn."

Caryn just sleepily blinked at him, "…? Oh… Hi, squirt."

"Squirt?" Karol said a bit cringy at his nickname from her.

"Hm? Well yeah? What else can I call you? Liana calls you Baby Boy and… who calls you what else?" Caryn asked as she slowly moved.

"You should've slept a bit longer…" I replied to her with a sweat drop.

"Hmm? But Flynn left to HQ already… I gotta go or he might leave me behind… nah scratch that, he wouldn't, but Sodia would probably lie and say I was on the wagon set to go, and make a makeshift sleeping silhouette with the supplies and say I was asleep, not to bug me, and they'd shove off without me… yeah I can see her doing that, so I gotta go," Caryn pouted weakly, that was one thing about her, she wasn't much a morning person.

I was about to respond, but then my brain went white… did I ever really hear Flynn say Sodia's name? I mean I know who she is… but to keep from questions being targeted at me… I couldn't recall… best to play safe and act like I don't know who she is, "Sounds like a bitch…"

Yuri nudged my side and motioned to Karol (I keep forgetting he's there… but come on, the kid grew up in Dahngrest! I bet he's heard that and MUCH MORE… still… ugh never mind, holding back is too much of a pain). I just nudged Yuri back in retaliation with a grumpy pout.

"Yeah, she is a bitch… a really big bitch" Caryn replied sleepily, but with a cheesy grin. Yuri just face palmed, yeah you can't save the child's ears, though due to Karol's non-existent response, I'm sure he's used to it.

Karol turned to me though with a pout, "Wow, she really is sleepy. Though I could hardly sleep last night."

"Hm? Why's that baby boy?" I asked curiously.

His pout grew into a bit of frustration, "You kept talking at night, Liana. Sometimes you were shouting and other times you were just loud, telling them to 'turn it off!' or 'it's coming alive!'"

I shivered as the memory of the nightmare popped into my head, "Gh!"

"What were you dreaming about?" Kairi asked curiously now.

"Uhh… Dinosaurs…" I replied… not wanting to mention it being a desktop game.

"Huh? Dinosaurs?" Caryn asked weirdly, until her face beamed and she grinned teasingly, "Oh you must mean that game for little kids you said freaked you out when you were little! Y'know, the one your friends and siblings tormented you with!"

"CARYN!" I shrieked as she brought up the subject of 'games'. Though everyone was interested in something that could 'freak' me out.

She giggled creepily as she rummaged into her bag, giving me a freaky stare, "I got a present, y'know."

"Huh? Present?" I said uncomfortably, not sure where she was taking this.

She pulled out her phone and begun rummaging through it, "Ah, there it is. I downloaded and uploaded it to show my co-workers, they thought it was awesome."

"What is it?" I asked now curiously as I peaked over her shoulder. I made a mistake…

The music only needed to play for less than 1 second, the screen didn't need to change nor did it, but my brain registered it… and I ran out of that building faster than Speedy Gonzalez on caffeine shouting every profanity available in my arsenal…which isn't much.

* * *

I reached the Knight's HQ and slammed the door behind me to the area where Flynn was panting heavily at my intense sprint, "Fuck that bitch, fuck that shit, I'm out!"

Flynn just stared at me with wide eyes, unsure why I was here to begin with, "Um… Miss Liana? Is there anything I can help you with?"

I grabbed Flynn shoulders in a vice grip, irritated, and began to shake him like a salt shaker that was beyond the points of blocked, "WHY THE FUCK DID YOU LEAVE CARYN BACK AT THE FUCKING INN?! WHY DON'T YOU FUCKING WAKE UP LATER SO SHE CAN FUCKING SLEEP IN?! DO YOU HAVE ANY FUCKING IDEA HOW BAD SHE IS WITH FUCKING MORNINGS YOU FUCKTARD?! AND NOW SHE'S ALL FUCKING SMILES AND RAINBOWS, MESSING WITH PEOPLE'S FUCKING TRAUMA, AND COMPLETELY HALF OUT OF IT! FUCKING DO SOMETHING YOU ASSHOLE!"

"I would Miss Liana! But, You're! Could you! Please! Stop! Shaking me! I!" Flynn got out until his body lurched a little making me stop to see his face was now green. He put out an arm to show me to give him some time and space, his cheeks puffed up, and I let go of his arms to allow him to turn around and walk over to a trash can to throw up.

The two of us sat on the seats for a while, Flynn wiping his mouth with a handkerchief he pulled from somewhere in his armor, explaining and talking a little for the both of us to regain our breath, him for barfing up a lot, and me for my supreme dash and salt shaking abilities. Once Flynn regained his breath he stood up, "So, let me get this straight. Caryn's awake, but she's still sleepy?"

"Yeah…" I replied awkwardly, this felt like a mini interrogation with him standing and me sitting.

"And she's 'half out of it', bring up trauma?" Flynn mimicked uncertainly.

"Yeah…" I replied again.

"And she thinks if she doesn't hurry, she'll be left behind?" Flynn asked repeating what I explained after we sat down a bit.

"Yeah…" I replied to, starting to get tired of repeating myself… or having to confirm what I just said, but that was one of Flynn's quirks, I hated it.

"I didn't wake her so she could sleep in though. We aren't leaving till later, and I planned to wake her up myself when we were set to head out," Flynn replied simply.

That ticked me off, I wanted to shake him again, "THEN WHY THE FUCK DIDN'T YOU LEAVE HER A MESSAGE?! SHE LITERALLY MADE HERSELF GET UP BECAUSE SHE WAS AFRAID YOU'D LEAVE HER BEHIND IF SHE DIDN'T!"

Flynn looked wide eyed, as though he couldn't believe my words, "I understand that my duties have me on a tight schedule, but please believe me Miss Liana. I wouldn't leave her behind or let any harm befall her, I promise."

I gave him an odd look, I knew Flynn was a good guy but at times he made me question things. Though I had to guess he was only promising me due to my 'rant' at Nor Harbor about how I couldn't trust him or trust him with my friends.

"So next time, you'll leave her a message?" I asked him with a raised eyebrow, questioning him.

"I promise," Flynn said normally.

"Hmph, good. Saved yourself from another shaking episode," I replied making him sweat drop as everyone came in, Estelle now with them.

"Caryn?" Flynn called her, seeing her wipe her eyes.

"Huh? Present!" She smiled happily, her ears wiggling up and down. She seemed to wake up a little more at the sight of him, ugh, mushy stuff.

"I'm sorry you woke up so suddenly, I should've left a note. We aren't leaving until later, so you can return to sleep a little longer if you want," Flynn said worriedly as he took note of how drowsy she appeared to be.

"Huh?" She said a little blinky, "No, I'm good! Really!"

"Flynn, you don't look so good," Estelle said looking him over.

"Uh, forgive my ill appearance, I just lost my breakfast a bit ago," he said peering over at me. (Oh sure, blame me…although it WAS me).

Kairi put her hands on her hips as she turned to me, "What did you do?"

"Nothing!...Except shake him like a salt shaker…" I replied turning away from her.

"LIANA!" Kairi pouted big time.

Yuri looked amused and yet curious all in one as he walked up to talk with Flynn, "The barrier blastia's been making some odd noises. Do you think it's okay?"

Flynn then turned to him looking a little surprised before returning to his usual stare, "You came all the way here because you were worried about that? As always, Yuri, you can't leave well enough alone if you see anything amiss."

Yuri looked a little sour, "Hey, it's not me! She was the one that-"

Rita cut in, angry and frustrated, she just wanted at that blastia, like NOW, "It's obvious that something's not right with that blastia. Let me have a look at it!"

Flynn turned to her with a normal but stern gaze, "This blastia is currently in a state of repair. I'm sorry, but I cannot allow you to examine it."

Rita was fuming now, "Why!"

Just then the ground shook…no… the entire building shook violently! I grabbed the arm rest of the couch literally bouncing in the seat as Estelle grabbed the head rest to keep herself standing. Karol fell a little but caught himself on the window sill and Repede kept himself low to the ground but alert. Rita balanced herself pretty well as Caryn fell onto Flynn's right arm. Flynn kept himself standing and supported Caryn with his right arm as his left arm went to catch Kairi's right arm as she fell, Yuri catching Kairi's left arm and keeping her standing with Flynn as he just stood there almost unaffected like the ninja he was.

Once the shaking stopped Yuri looked serious, "What was that vibration?"

The sound of the humming was now louder, my ears were ringing, I take back on wanting to rush through this, I could've done without this headache! Not only that… even though we were indoors… I could feel a tiny strain on my chest. Ah, karma is a cruel mistress!

"Don't tell me that was the blastia…" Flynn got out as he paled at the thought.

Rita ran out of the room faster than we could say, hello.

"Maybe something's happened to the blastia!" Estelle suggested.

"Let's get outta here!" Yuri shouted, to everyone, as he took not of Kairi beginning to breathe a little harder than normal.

Flynn supported Caryn up, not aware that she was now breathing a bit harder too. He turned to Estelle, "Your Highness, you must stay here! Caryn will stay back as well!"

Yuri dashed outside to go get Rita, Flynn following after he was certain Caryn was okay to stand. Karol and I exchanged looks, not sure of what to do. If Kairi and I headed outside, we would be in BIG trouble, but we didn't want to leave the others. Karol quickly chased after them; Kairi and I looked to each other and chased after them, Caryn actually following behind us.

We got out the door, and the three of us stopped as the others had gone on ahead.

"What… what is… this…?" Caryn asked weakly as she clutched her chest once we exited the door, she looked like she could vomit any second. Not that I couldn't understand, I was fighting off the waves of nausea too, the pain more intense, "Fuck, Caryn, we have to wait inside, we can't handle the aer. We'll end up getting killed if we get any closer."

We took note of Yuri holding Rita back, but then a shockwave of aer came from the blastia, rippling out. It knocked Yuri away from Rita, Flynn fell over, and once it hit us we all hit the ground. I felt like I got winded, all of us hurling and gasping for air. Caryn was crawling over weakly to the others, but I grabbed the back of her pants and dragged her back, "We… can't…"

"But… Flynn…" Caryn said weakly in protest. She wanted to help him, but with all this aer, there's nothing we can do… if that was just a small shockwave… what was the final blow going to do?

"Caryn… do you want… to live… or die?" I asked seriously for once, right now… our lives were on the line… this wasn't a joke.

She stared at me, fear filling her eyes for once, she just lowered her head and began to crawl with me towards the door since we couldn't get up. We didn't have to crawl far as we were lifted up and carried inside, I stared up to see Flynn.

"Are you two, alright?" Flynn asked concerned.

"I… I can't… I don't…" Caryn asked as she held her chest, even inside the aer was getting in, and it was painful to endure.

"We… can't handle… aer… anymore… and we're going to die…" I replied, basically to fill in Caryn and Flynn on this since it was new to the both of them, and Flynn knew we weren't adjusted for aer due to being 'aliens'.

Flynn looked at both of us with worry all over his face, "You two, please wait here. Don't go outside no matter what… I promise I'll return."

That was when I noticed, "Where's…. Kairi?!"

Flynn paled and quickly ran outside, leaving the two of us to try to regain our breaths.

"This… sucks…" I replied as I clutched my chest.

"How…. Are you gonna handle when… you know what happens?" Caryn asked me, referring to when Estelle's powers run amok.

"Well you know… Yuri get's 'The Sword' and that'll protect us… so we should be fine…" I replied.

"Lucky…" Caryn replied as she huffed and puffed.

Suddenly the ground shook as the sound of a small explosion rocked the building, the aer that seeped in through the cracks of the door forcefully was of mass quantity, I gasped for air, watching my friend suffocating as well until everything in my vision went black.

* * *

When my vision returned, I was back in the same room we had stayed in, my head throbbing in discomfort, "Ugh…"

"Liana…" I heard Estelle's voice faintly, relief in her tone, "Thank goodness… you're okay…"

She sounded so worn out, I had to guess by how good my body felt, that she had been dividing her attention to healing us all. Damn it, with all that healing Judy was definitely not going to ignore that, and I had to worry on how much aer she was stimulating by adding on healing Kairi and me…. Damn it, Phaeroh must be very angry by now.

I turned to notice her healing Rita, then she keeled over on the bed, falling asleep. The impact of her falling on the bed managed to wake Rita up as she stared at Estelle and turned to peak at us before returning her attention to Estelle. Guess she was checking out the situation, she wasn't surprised that Kairi and I were bed ridden, which meant she was getting used to the fact that aer wasn't safe for us.

On cue, a knock on the door and we knew it had to be Yuri. Rita just replied as best she could, still a little tired, "…Come in."

Yuri walked in and I turned my head to him, seeing him smirk a little until he turned to see Kairi still unconscious which set him back to just normal, "Glad to see you two are awake."

He peered down at Estelle and sighed, "… And after I told her over and over to call me before she collapses."

"You didn't think she'd really listen to you, did you?" Rita said as a matter of factly.

"Yeah… she never listens to ANYONE… that should be obvious by now," I replied as Yuri gave me a smirk.

"Yeah, neither do you," Yuri sassed back with that silly grin… seriously if his face gets stuck that way I'll have to stretch his face until it's back to normal.

Estelle just lightly sighed in her sleep, and Rita turned into smiles… it was kinda disturbing, but then again… it's Ristelle, gotta love it, "…Heh, she looks happy."

She then turned to Yuri before turning away, her cheeks a bit pink, "Hey so… what do you think Estellise thinks of me?"

Yuri's eyes just went wide with an even more sillier face than I thought possible, making me giggle.

Rita turned when she noticed my giggling to see his face too, and she looked a little upset, "Why are you making that face?"

"Pfufu… I seriously want to slap you out of it, fufu…" I replied up at Yuri, covering my mouth and lifting the blanket to cover my now puffed up cheeks due to trying to stop my laughter.

Yuri then went back to normal and replied, "I just didn't think you were the kind of person who cared what other people thought."

I nodded, "Mhm, like me. You all can hate my guts and I wouldn't give two cents," though I smirked and whispered loud enough for her to hear me, "But I ship Ristelle!"

She turned away, her cheeks getting redder, "F-Forget it. You can go now, and you can go back to sleep."

"But the sky is raining, which means it's awake," I pouted dramatically (Yes, it was now raining, wonder if the malfunctioning blastia had anything to do with that…), "so now I'm awake, which means I have to PLAY!"

That earned me odd looks from both Yuri and Rita, which made me giggle as Yuri turned to Rita again, "Compared to those formulas of yours, Estelle should be easy to figure out. It's this one that's the puzzle."

"Hey!" I pouted up at him, to which he gave me a silly grin in return.

"Mmmm…" we heard coming from Kairi's bed.

"Hey, you alright now?" Yuri asked concerned.

As her eyes fluttered open, she peeked around and before a word could come out of her mouth, her tummy rumbled loudly.

Yuri just about fell over, "I'll take that as a yes. I forgot we haven't had breakfast or lunch yet."

"Lunch? What time is it?" I said as I turned to him, wondering just how long we had been out.

"Almost going to be time for dinner," Yuri answered normally, now I wanted to fall over.

I sweat dropped, "And you guys didn't think about grabbing a bite to eat? We had a complimentary meal... And what about Caryn?!"

"Didn't want to leave you guys alone for long. We weren't sure how long you guys would be out, plus Estelle here wouldn't leave the room no matter what, didn't feel right to eat when she wasn't. And don't worry, Flynn got her and is tending to her," Yuri replied.

I sweat dropped big time… she had been healing the three of us for that long?! Forget angry, Phaeroh had to be livid by now! Though Caryn was probably in Flynn heaven by now… lucky bitch.

Estelle then begun to return to consciousness, first drowsy, then she sprung completely alert, turning to see me still awake, and smiling to see Kairi now partly awake continuing to wake up, "Uuh… Huh? Rita! You're awake! But be careful! It's just when you think you've recovered that you're in the most danger."

She healed up Rita one more time and Rita decided it was time to talk, "It's all right, I'm fine. Also, you don't need to pretend to be using that blastia anymore."

Estelle looked taken aback, "I… What do you mean?"

"It's pretty cool that you can use healing artes without a blastia," Yuri chimed in, making her jerk in surprise at his voice at her back.

"B-But how did you…?" Estelle asked curiously.

"You underestimate our detective ninjaness Estelle," I replied, "I mean, it's not much of a surprise for me being the alien, but… when Yuri's blastia gets all glowy when he uses arte thingys, it's really odd when yours doesn't when you heal."

She looked a little embarrassed but soon our attention was off her when Ba'ul and Judy flew down right in our face. An open aired room with a balcony was beautiful and cooling, but it doesn't guard much against aerial raids!

Yuri was the one who quickly got his blade set, "What the?"

"Hey, it's that dragon freak!" Rita fumed angrily as Estelle put herself over Rita to hold her down from fighting with Judy.

"Still…so…cute…but…so…deadly," I got out as I heard Ba'ul's whale sound again, completely fangirling despite the situation.

"Hey!" Yuri shouted as we noticed Kairi running to the railing of the balcony, the rain soaking her hair and dress.

She looked up at Ba'ul and said only one thing, "…Hi."

Ba'ul let out a bellow that made Judith *cough* I mean our Dragon Rider tilt her head as she stared down at her, what did Ba'ul say?

"Huh?" Kairi replied weakly as she was still recovering, though despite her recovering, that wasn't good enough for the Dragon Rider.

One movement of her Brionac towards us was enough to alert us that Ba'ul was about to fire in our direction. Kairi's eyes widened as she backed off into the room, Yuri quickly running in front of her as Ba'ul charged up a blast and fired.

Yuri fended off the blast with his blade, but the aftershock of air threw Rita, Estelle, and Me off the bed, Kairi went flying a good 10 feet back. I peeked over the top of my bed to see Yuri still standing in the same spot albeit slightly winded watching Ba'ul slowly turn to change direction. Yuri was a BEAST…

Estelle just fussed, "Rita, are you alright?"

Rita looked a bit irritated, mainly due to 'the dragon freak', "Don't you ever learn…?"

"I'm so shipping Ristelle~," I teased from over my bed, earning a HUGE glare from Rita.

Karol and Repede rushed in, Repede immediately to Kairi's side as if to check her over.

"It sounds like the sky's falling in here. What's going on?" Karol shouted as Ba'ul passed by the window and away, "…Huh? Aaaah!"

"W-What was that thing?" Karol freaked out.

I turned to him, "The dragon-whale thingy, remember?"

"Just when the conversation was getting interesting," Rita pouted as she dusted herself off and got up, Estelle getting up also.

"That's enough talk about Estelle's healing artes for now," Yuri said as he returned from the window area. Unlike Kairi who went out onto the balcony and got drenched. Which reminded me… how come the rain never came inside? I mean I know the shape of the room allows for a view, but the rain pouring from the top down on the balcony should be running inside. It then hit me, the balcony probably was slightly arched down to allow the rain to flow down rather than into the room.

"Fine by me. I've pretty much figured it out, anyway," Rita sassed, though she turned to Kairi, "Though what interests me is what were you trying to do?"

Yuri then turned to her as well, a serious tone but a curious expression since I'm the one who usually is reckless, "Yeah. You're still recovering, just what the hell were you thinking?"

Kairi looked a little flustered, but Yuri took note of Estelle out of the corner of his eye and turned to her briefly, "Don't look at me like that. Do I really look like that much of a bad guy to you?"

I giggled, "Well, you are interrogating Kairi, and you got that whole bad cop vibe going on…."

Rita just simply answered, "Yes."

Estelle just giggled, "… Heh heh heh."

Karol looked left out, his gaze turning to everyone rapidly, "…Hey wait. What's going on you guys? Come on, tell me!"

"Yeah, tell us," Yuri said as he returned his gaze back to Kairi, he wasn't letting it go.

"Huh? Eto… I… just…. wanted to try talking to it…" Kairi replied simply.

"And, how did that go?" I asked, a bit curious myself.

"Um… I'm not sure if it can understand me… I only got one word out of it," Kairi replied nervously.

"What word is that?" Rita asked, making Kairi turn her head down, flustered, and completely nervous, "Well?"

" _What was it?_ " I asked telepathically, because I wanted to know.

" _He said… Divine…_ ," Kairi answered me, still keeping her mouth shut, uncomfortable with telling the others… no doubt not wanting to give more info to them, " _… Gusios said the same thing back at Caer Bocram._ "

" _Then it's safe to assume that the Entelexia can sense that you're not completely human. That would explain why Gusios was being so careful not to crush you back at Caer Bocram. Though that means nothing before Ba'ul I guess,_ " I replied, curious as to how the Entelexia could do that.

The others seemed to be getting a little frustrated by no answer, but soon topics changed when Kairi's tummy let out a LARGE roar, and mine chimed in with a medium gurgle. The both of us instinctively covered our tummies, blushing in embarrassment.

Yuri chuckled, "Oh right, almost forgot, you two are hungry."

"Yeah, I'm starving," Karol replied and Rita and Estelle covered their tummies to hide a mini roar as well.

"Guess that settles that, let's grab a bite to eat in the lobby," Yuri replied with a chuckle at this hungry band of misfits he was traveling with.

"Amen!" I replied with a raised fist as my tummy roared again, as if to say 'BITCH DO SOMETHING!'

* * *

We all looked at the menu and I almost wanted to just order water, dinner prices are so expensive; and complimentary meals did NOT extend to nor include dinner meals. Everyone except Estelle was secretly cringing at the prices, "Um… perhaps I should ask to borrow the Knight's Kitchen again and make a meal?"

"That may be a bit more frugal," Rita replied as she looked at prices also.

"What should we have?" I asked, trying to figure what everyone might want, chicken, pork, fish, pasta? I just needed some general idea.

"Hmmm, not sure. I could go some Mabo Curry," Yuri replied, of course he'd pick his favorite.

"I don't know how to make that…" I sweat dropped as I stared at him… although I was dying to get my hands on that recipe.

As if on a bad cue, Alexei happened upon our table, "Have you found something suitable to eat, Princess?"

Estelle turned to him a little nervous, "Oh, well…"

"It's not that the food isn't edible… it's just we're what you'd call 'frugal'… and this isn't helping. Plus I'm in the mood for a Chicken Fried Steak with creamy gravy, a side of cheesy mashed potatoes, and a good heap of steamed broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots… and that is NOT on the menu," I replied as I thought of the first thing that came to mind that my dad makes rarely.

Kairi's tummy roared at the mere mention and she covered her stomach once again. Kairi weakness number two, number one being Yuri… was cheese… just ANYTHING with cheese.

"That actually sounds pretty good," Yuri replied as the others looked like they could drool any minute.

Alexei was about to open his mouth but I cut in, "Hey, big guy, can I borrow your knight's kitchen again? I did so last time with no permission… so even if you say no, I'll pick the lock to get in there…"

"Then what's the point of asking permission?" Kairi sweat dropped nervously, "Oh, but I did leave the jar of tea in there! We need to go get it. And I am craving to use some of the lavender herbs to make some dessert, so may we please borrow your knight's kitchen?"

Alexei actually stiffened a little when Kairi spoke, but he turned to her and bowed, "Very well. I shall accompany you and inform the knights and staff that you are permitted to enter and use the premises."

"Thank you," Kairi replied happily, "I'll go get the herbs."

As Kairi began to run to her room, Alexei called out to her, "Please don't strain yourself, there's no need to rush. You are still in recovery."

Kairi turned around as she reached the foot of the stairs, "Oh… alright, I will."

We watched her walk up the steps, and I kept giving the commandant odd looks as his eyes were glued to where she was once standing. How bad did this guy have it?

He then turned to Yuri, "How was she feeling when she awoke?"

"Huh? A bit tired, but pretty hungry, why?" Yuri answered with a raised eyebrow at the Commandant's curiosity.

"I was merely concerned; her heart did stop during the incident with the blastia. I had no idea she was that fragile or I would have had her moved away from the scene when she came into view," Alexei retorted seriously, though he looked in thought a little.

Gah, please don't tell me he wants to know why she's so sensitive to aer. That'll be dabbling into our alien lives!

"It… stopped?!" Estelle said a bit horrified at the thought that the small girl had 'temporarily died' again.

Alexei turned to her, "Yes, it took quite a bit to revive her."

All of us stared at him in silence, not sure what else to say as Kairi came down the steps, herbs in her arms. And we all headed to the Knight's HQ where we got permission to enter and do things here for as long as 'Kairi' was here in town.

* * *

Kairi returned from the back room with a huge frown, "The jar of tea that I left in the room… it's gone."

"Do not worry. I shall ask around, please be patient," Alexei asked her as he turned to start talking to the knights. The knight he was talking to seemed to freak out a bit and pointed to another knight that he now went to interrogate, no doubt they were going to be making a chain till he either found it or got a 'Tee hee it's in another castle' quote… in which case, someone was fired.

"Guess while he's distracted we can cook and bake without nerves. You guys can wait in that back room, it's better to take it there than to eat in the main kitchen, cause those assholes will want to eat the food," I replied to the others. I got nods and they all left, leaving Kairi and me to storm the Kitchen and seize it's command…. Actually, since it was Alexei's command, there wasn't anyone in the kitchen so we'd have no distractions. Hurray for the bossy boss man causing NPCs to disappear!

* * *

I began to pound out and tenderize the beef cube steak I had bought so it could be thin; first rule about chicken friend steak… it's NOT chicken XD. Kairi began using her icebolt to create ice and I began wondering what she wanted to make, "Whatcha gonna make?"

She turned to me with a smile, "Honey Lavender Ice Cream!"

"Y'know that'll take hours to make, right?" I asked her with a sweat drop, though I'd have to search high and low in my bag to find my lactose tablets in my room.

"Not if I can help it," Kairi chimed in happily as she began to heat up the milk, honey, and lavender in a sauce pan on medium heat, carefully watching it for it to only go to a 'gentle' boil. If she had a method in mind, I wasn't going to question her, especially since it's a dessert, she won't fail.

* * *

After washing, frying, stirring, churning, mashing, seasoning, boiling, peeling, steaming, sieving, sifting, cheesing, plating (All not quite in that order XD), and many minutes alone in a kitchen, our masterpieces were done. I decided to go back to the back room to get the others to let them know dinner was set, and there was no one in the kitchen but Kairi, so we didn't have to worry about knights stealing our food.

"Tada~, let's dig in and enjoy!" I said dramatically as everyone walked in to see the dishes on the table.

"Wow, it looks really good!" Karol said happily, his eyes were literally almost stars, but I bet he wasn't meaning the vegetables.

"Thanks, after you finish your plate and ALL the veggies, then you can have some ice cream baby boy," I told him sternly in a mother like tone, "But only if you eat ALL your veggies, got it?"

"Okay!" Karol said as he dashed to his seat, his eyes now lighting up even more at the sound of ice cream. I forgot that this kid, Yuri, and the Don are like the kings of sweet teeth, haha.

Everyone sat down to eat, so many good sounds were going through the room after the first bite of just about everything. It almost was sexual, now where's that dirty Wonder Chef to complete this foodgasm fest?

"Liana, it's really very good," Estelle said excited after eating a bit of her steak and a bite of her potatoes, "I didn't think putting cheese into potatoes would end up so good either!"

"Oh, dissing on cheese now? It is Kairi's 2nd greatest weakness you know," I sassed back, which made Kairi almost choke on a piece of steak she had in her mouth.

"2nd greatest weakness?" Estelle asked curiously now.

"Yup, she loves anything with cheese, so if you make a cheese dish, it's hard to go wrong for Kairi. So in other words, Mac and Cheese is her downfall!" I said happily, as though I was revealing the color of her underwear to the world.

Kairi just silently chomped on her food, her face flushed from ear to ear.

"Though, this is supposed to be, Chicken Fried Steak, right?" Yuri asked, he wasn't one to foodgasm over such trivial meals…damnit! I was waiting till dessert came around though, I had my camera secretly ready; because, Kairi's desserts could take you to Heaven and back… literally.

"Yep. If I had made brown gravy, it'd be called Country Fried Steak," I replied as I took a bite of my steak, almost choking at the sight of Kairi's now nearly empty plate.

"But this isn't chicken," Yuri replied as he stared at another piece of meat on his fork.

"First rule of Chicken Fried Steak… it's not chicken," I grinned happily, "It's made of pork cutlets, cube steak, or beef top or round sirloin that's been cut thin and tenderized. It's just called 'Chicken Fried' because it's prepared in the same manner as 'Fried Chicken'."

Estelle clapped her hands together much like when Lailah figures something out, "Oh, so that's why it's called that; because of the technique."

"Mhm," I answered through a mouthful of steak. I almost swallowed when I noted Kairi fidgeting nervously looking my way, I knew what she wanted… she wanted another helping. I quickly swallowed and stared at her, "Geez Kairi, slow down. You can go get seconds but just slow it down!"

"O-Okay," Kairi said embarrassed as she took her plate to go get some more food.

"I'm done too! Can I have some ice cream now," Karol asked happily. I checked his plate, and indeed every single vegetable was gone, I turned to Repede and noted he had no veggies in his bowl, none just tossed on the ground under the table, so he was clear.

"Geez baby boy, not you too. Though, sure. Kairi! We got one order of ice cream here!" I told her as she turned to me from filling up her plate with a nod.

Everyone was going their own pace as Kairi returned with a bowl of ice cream, nothing fancy, but she did use some purple food coloring to make it look lavender colored, "Here you go Karol."

I quickly got out my phone and began to record as I set it on Karol. He took one bite, and he slouched back in his chair holding spoon in mouth, a slap me silly grin on his face, as if he too were melting with the ice cream. Words couldn't even come out of his mouth with how happy he was.

"Boy, that's one satisfied customer," I giggled out as he took another bite, his expression turning to butter with each spoonful.

Kairi just giggled, though her eyes kept darting to Yuri ever so often. Then her expression changed, she looked like she was thinking hard, then in a panic, then happy, then panic, I had to wonder what was going on in that love-sick head of hers.

It didn't seem like long before everyone was thanking me for the food and asking for ice cream after their plates were done. Kairi kept returning with bowl after bowl of ice cream, but on Yuri's bowl, she was stumped, I had to wonder if she wanted to make it 'SPECIAL' but wasn't sure how. Ah, but the best food can sometimes be the simplest, I just think she was overthinking it, ANY dessert she'd make could melt anyone.

I kept recording everyone's reactions to the ice cream, but when she arrived with Yuri's bowl, I was ready to shift my camera to see if he'd melt, or if he'd just be a ninja and stay normal.

As he brought the spoon up to his mouth he paused, his eyes wide registering the food as he turned to Kairi, "Hey, what flavor exactly is this?"

"Huh? Honey Lavender," Kairi answered after she swallowed a spoonful of mashed potatoes, it was her third serving of potatoes.

"Honey Lavender… huh?" Yuri said as he ate the spoonful. His eyes went wide, his body shook a little, but he got another spoonful and ate it, a wide grin going across his face; Yuri Lowell… was melting.

I pulled my face away from the view finder but kept the camera on him to ensure I wasn't seeing things… I didn't know Yuri could make that kinda of a face. He looked like 'SEX', as some people would probably put it with that 'slap happy' look with drool almost coming out the side of his mouth when he'd pause between bites, his eyes lightly hazy as though he had just been given the most literally breathtakingly hot make out session the world had to offer. Which… with Kairi's desserts… I wouldn't be surprised if that was what the ice cream was doing to him right now.

Kairi had stopped eating to watch him with me, her cheeks flushed a deep red at his expression, eyes wide in surprise and wonder at how this 'bad ass' character could look like 'that'. When he turned to look at us, he didn't say a word, I almost was expecting him to either register the camera and ditch the look or begin babbling about loving Kairi and for her to marry him like this one guy she made a cake for did.

Once he finished his ice cream, he stared at the ceiling for a while, as though coming out of the pure ecstasy he had just experienced. Everyone else was happily snuggling the table, that was what Kairi's desserts could do, they were guaranteed to give you the sensation of heaven on your plate, or bowl, or cup.

"So, is everyone satisfied with their meal?" I gave a cocky smirk to everyone.

I just received thumbs up from everyone, and that signaled the end of my recording. I put up my phone, and just in time too as Alexei barged in.

"I apologize, it appears your jar was mistaken for a ration for distribution and taken on a shipment. I shall fetch you a new jar and a box of tea," Alexei said apologetically to Kairi.

"Oh, you don't have to, honest," Kairi said nervously as she waved her hands out in front of her.

"It's alright, I do not mind," Alexei said, his eyes actually softening up on her, though they returned to their normal steely gaze once he turned to see his princess resting on the table with the group, "What happened here?"

"Very satisfied customers," I answered with a smirk, "Though if you're insisting on getting Kairi a jar… please could you get one a bit smaller? That one she had was too large to fit in her bag, and much to heavy to carry around once filled."

"I see, I didn't take into account her delicate frame, I apologize for purchasing you such a heavy item," Alexei said bowing apologetically to Kairi. Really this was becoming a little weird to watch, "I shall return with a much more suitable container."

"But really, you don't have to," Kairi said nervously before it seemed like a light bulb went off in her head, "Oh, but please wait a moment!"

Kairi ran back towards the ice cream and gathered the rest of it, which wasn't much since I had my only bowl of it before me. She returned and handed Alexei the bowl, "Since you've been so kind to us, please have some. I made it myself, so it may not be to your liking, or you may not be fond of sweets, but umm…"

That was Kairi… she was far too nice, even so much as to give ice cream to one of the biggest douches in the universe. Alexei just bowed, "I thank you graciously for your gift. Please, feel free to return with your group to the inn to relax and recover in your room at your leisure, I shall send a messenger to deliver your jar shortly."

"Oh umm, thank you," Kairi said as she bowed in return. We both watched him turn to leave, taking a spoonful of ice cream and eating it, a smile going across his face out of the corner of my eye as he closed the door. I blinked stupidly, I had to wonder if Kairi's ice cream can stop him from being evil, that'd be a miracle.

"He has it…. VERY BAD," I replied as I took a bite of my ice cream, my jaw trembling in delight (I don't get foodgasms, but my jaw sure does XD). Kairi looked at me confused; ah, she could be a little naïve, but she knew what I was getting at deep down.

* * *

"That was sooooo good, can you make that tomorrow Liana, please?" Karol asked as he turned to me with a smile, laying down spread out like an eagle on his bed, completely satisfied and falling into a food coma. Even Repede was laying down with a slight grin on his canine form, obviously very satisfied with his meal, and Estelle had returned to her room, so she wasn't here to join the mass bliss that echoed throughout the room.

"Relax baby boy, the others have a right to say they want something else too y'know," I grinned at him, so happy that baby boy was appreciating my cooking, nobody back at home did… except my mama from time to time.

"It was honestly pretty good, I wouldn't mind having that again," Yuri replied as he laid back on his bed.

"Oh?" I smirked, "Do you mean the food, or the dessert?"

He cringed and fidgeted nervously, "Huh…? Uh, well, both to be honest."

At least he was honest about it. Rita had just kept quiet and was now trying to sleep, everyone so full that sleep was now taking hold. Though we got that expected knock on the door with the delivery for Kairi.

Yuri answered is and was overwhelmed with yet ANOTHER arms full of a medium sized jar, a small box of tea, and a VERY LARGE bouquet. The messenger placed a letter on the bouquet and then bid us good night.

"Wow… seriously, that guy has got it bad…" I sweat dropped as Kairi took the bouquet from Yuri with incredibly pink cheeks.

"B-But I didn't ask for it though…" Kairi pouted as put down the bouquet in a nearby vase and began to read the letter by turning it every which direction. Her cheeks growing hotter as she kept reading, Yuri getting curious and peeking over her shoulder to read the letter as well, "Whoa, didn't think the commandant could write stuff like that."

"I'm grateful he's been very kind, but this is a bit much… I mean, we've only seen him a few times, we don't really know anything about each other at all," Kairi said nervously.

"Like me and Caryn said, it's just a total booty call… please don't indulge him…" I replied… then my thoughts backtracked, "Wait! We didn't even go to check on Caryn! GAH! I gotta go see her right now!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Easy there, she's with Flynn, I'm sure she's doing alright," Yuri replied nervously and a bit frantically as I began to head towards the door.

"Yeah, but… she's never had to go through this yet! It's her first time! Kairi and I have gone through it quite a bit on this journey so that maybe might be helping us build an immunity…. Well… errr I mean.. waking us up earlier than normal… I dunno," I began to think and my brain began to hurt and I rubbed my head like mad, "Ugh! Curse you Lowell! Triggering my brain to begin calculating extensively to the point of pain! Ghhhh!"

"Just relax and lay down, we can go see her tomorrow, and I'm pretty sure since we didn't run into Flynn throughout the rest of the day, he must've been looking after her, so I'm sure she's doing alright," Yuri replied as he covered himself up.

"Or he could've left her to some random doctor… in case you've forgotten that man seems like a workaholic, and he did mention they were leaving later today…" I recalled the conversation from earlier.

Yuri looked a little in thought but still relaxed, "I doubt he'd leave her to just 'anyone', and if they're leaving I'm pretty sure Estelle still being here means that he's still here. He was going to escort her back to the capital, so I doubt he's left."

I rolled my eyes, I knew Flynn would be gone way before we'd wake up… damn it, I had to trust that he wasn't just swamped with work so much that he didn't tend to her. Just the memory of seeing her suffocating in front of me before I blacked out was traumatizing, "Well he better be taking care of her, or else… or else… I'll… I'll...I'll shave him bald!"

Yuri actually let out a laugh for a few seconds before covering it up with some coughs and wishing us all a good night, saying we should sleep too. I rolled my eyes and noted Kairi's cheeks flushing a deep pink at Yuri's directions. The sight just made me smile with nostalgia, so I laid down and snuggle into my pillow and sheets, I forget how badly that idiot loves his smile, it brought back memories of home, playing the game, my dad giving me that goofy grin asking why I loved this game so much; I had to pray I didn't cry in my sleep due to them.

* * *

I'm at 8.6k words, I'm stopping here, next time will have to be Dahngrest… because I don't think I can get us there in 1.4k more words XD

Caryn: Nor do you need 1.4k more words :P

Amen! I literally was just singing that Kelly song 'No Booty Calls' throughout this entire chapter XD I had to incorporate Alexei with it somehow due to that crack meme you made me do is stuck in my brain XD

Caryn: Only the other Tales Characters aren't here.

Yeah~ Mama Mikleo would've been a fun addition XD Though, my internet has been crapping out these past days, it's becoming harder to keep in touch.

Caryn: True… you crashed right in the middle of our discord chat EVERY SINGLE TIME XD

Yeah, another thing is… I keep making so many grammatical errors D: I mean I proof read to try to catch them all… but somehow when I post it up and read it…there's always one or two still left that I didn't catch.

Caryn: Well… nobody is perfect :D

Except most the authors on Fanfiction Q-Q Be glad I'm gonna be doing drabbles next, cause it's been a bit over a month since the last one.

Caryn: DO I GET FLYNN TIME :D !?

Maybe…

Caryn: I'll TAKE IT!

Next time: Dahngrest! (Gonna take a bit, I'm going to work on Drabbles before this story gets too far ahead and my brain farts cause I forget events).


	23. 22: To Viridian Ci-I mean Dahngrest!

Oh my god, I apologize for this tardy Q-Q Please forgive me!

Please remember, ( ) parenthesis are MY thoughts, _italics are telepathic talk between me and Kairi_

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Tales of Vesperia, Justin, or Caryn. I DO have permission to use Justin and Caryn though. I OWN myself, Kairi, and my work in this fic. That is all….

* * *

We all woke up to Yuri's call… well except me, I was stuck in my bizarre dream as usual, "Mmm… but this is Udon, not Ramen… I want my money back…this is… false advertisement…"

I felt something pinch my nose and I punched upward as hard as I could, waking up in a jolt, "GAH! Why's the want ad trying to murder me?!"

I turned my head to see Yuri grabbing his nose with both hands giving me a wide-eyed look that just begged to ask, 'Did you just hit me?!', though not needing an answer as it was already answered. I just smirked and gave him the peace sign before mocking, "I already told you, violence is a good friend~!"

"Geez, for such a peaceful, weird dream, you even get into fights there," Yuri said rubbing his nose, Kairi healing his nose up as some blood streamed out, I hit him a little too hard.

"I get into fights everywhere, so guess our first agenda is breakfast and then…. Ummm… I have no clue…," I replied trying to remember I couldn't spill the agenda since we never made it yesterday. I swear, one of these days I'mma slip up, and all hell will break loose.

On cue, Kairi's tummy rumbled and Yuri just sighed though he stiffened up right when his own tummy grumbled, "Alright, breakfast first it is."

"After I change up and shower in the bathroom, gotta get this blood off me," I pouted as I headed to the shower, the others not so keen on taking a shower today. Well they may not care, but I sure did, I was still on my period for Pete's sake!

Once I pulled off my pamper I saw I wasn't bleeding too much, but I still was bleeding a little, "Woohoo! I'm coming up on the end of it! Tomorrow it should be all gone, thank… whatever the Terca Lumerian Gods are…."

I showered up, dried off, changed into my Gothic Lolita Dress… seriously, all my Earth clothes had Logos, Anime pictures (including Vesperia…), or English Print… nothing of which I could share with the world…. And dresses were the worst to fight in… I kept having to wash and change between my teal night gown and my kinda ripped up gothic loli dress… I need at least one or two more change of clothes… and then I rejoined the others for some breakfast, complimentary~.

We bumped into Estelle downstairs, though she had apparently eaten breakfast before we could, but she still joined us at a table.

"Hmmm what to get…. I don't want something that'll screw my gut over," I spoke up as I looked at the menu.

They have a standard 2 eggs, bacon, and 3 medium-small pancake deal," Kairi suggested, which made me close up my menu, "I'll go with that, standard McDonald's breakfast meal…"

"McDonald's?" Estelle asked curiously.

"It's a restaurant on Earth, well technically it's a fast food one. Not so good and very fattening, but very affordable," I replied with a low whisper to keep from other guests hearing the conversation.

"Oh," Estelle nodded as though she realized what I was talking about… but seriously there's no McDonald's here, but I wonder what could be the equivalent…

"I want the waffle tower with chocolate syrup, strawberries, and ice cream!" Karol said enthusiastically, the kid had a major sweet tooth that could rival Yuri.

"Good choice baby boy, albeit a bit much on the sugar (Or A LOT on the sugar), and I guess Yuri wants a crepe with how intently he's staring at the image…" I said with an awkward look, it was still funny to know that Yuri Lowell… Yuri Fucking Lowell, had a weakness for sweets…

He just shut the menu without much expression as though refusing to let us see him embarrassed at being caught.

"I'll just have that meal thing you all are having, it's all the same thing once it hits your stomach anyways," Rita argued as she set the menu down, not caring about anything really, she was more interested in looking at and talking to Estelle (Ah let the Ristelle ship sail~!), though she kept stealing glances at Kairi (NO! The Ristelle ship can't go down DX Eyes off Kairi!).

As the waiter came by we all placed in our orders, 3 meal deals, 1 waffle tower, and 1 crepe, oh and some bacon for Repede! That pup deserved a good meal… come to think of it… Repede can technically cook in this game, but all he makes is dog food… I wonder how that works and at the same time… I don't want to know…

* * *

After we all ate, we headed out, Kairi quickly running to thank the hotel lobby for a great meal, hell their wanna be McDonald's meal, was MUCH better than a McDonald's meal; why? Because it was all fresh made and not frozen shet to be unfrozen…

"I'm stuffed," Karol got out as he rubbed his belly.

I looked over at him with a silly grin, "It's going to be bad if your body can't convert the energy from all that sugar you just had."

He just pouted up at me, not saying a word, he was learning not to start with me or it'd end up with him in my boobs… still didn't stop me from smothering him because his pouts are so FREAKING ADORABLE, "Mrrrpphhh!"

Yuri just turned to us with his funny look, "Lighten up on the captain there, Liana, it's a little too early for skin ship sessions."

I turned to Yuri with a pout as Karol continued to flail between my breasts, he could still breathe, "Awww, but he's so precious~"

Yuri just sighed and spoke, "Why you think that, I can't understand."

Kairi just giggled, especially when Karol grabbed Yuri's arm yanking him to help him, and the swordsman was now trying to get me to release Karol. I pouted but let the small boy go so he could get some air, "Aww, you boys are no fun. Most guys would love the opportunity to be smothered in big breasts~!"

"Ain't that the truth," A man said as he walked on by passed us, causing us all to stop and watch him walk off.

"I feel violated somehow…," I simply replied in dead pan as I watched the guy in the distance; that made Kairi laugh her head off at the bizarre scenario.

Yuri just cleared his throat, a few chuckles getting caught in between his coughs, as he turned to Estelle, "Well, take care on the way back to the capital."

She looked a little sad but simply responded, "Okay."

"Do you have everything? Wouldn't want to have to come back later," Yuri asked plainly.

Estelle just lightly began to smile, "If I forget anything, you'll bring it to me, won't you, Yuri?"

Kairi began to pout at the scene; to anyone walking by it was like watching a couple preparing to separate for a short while perhaps due to business.

"Hah, yeah right," Yuri replied almost sarcastically, but with a chuckle, before softening up his tone, "Okay, let's go find Flynn. I'll take you that far."

Estelle looked a bit in dismay now, it was written all over her face, she wanted to come along with us, if that look didn't just scream it, her words and sad yet curious tone certainly did, "U-um, what are you all going to do after this?"

Yuri placed his fingers to his chin in thought, "Hmm. Well we did lose track of the Blood Alliance…"

Karol then jumped in enthusiastically, "That's easy, we can just go to Dahn…," though his enthusiasm soon faded as he came to realize he had lost his job, going home meant facing the criticism, his head dropped to show his lack of enthusiasm, "grest. Or not. Man, if I go back there now, they'll all just laugh at me…"

Yuri was interested though, "Dahngrest? That's the guild city, right?"

Karol looked up at him, he didn't want to go back, but he did want to help Yuri out, "Y-yeah. I thought we could find out about the Blood Alliance there…"

"What direction is it from here?" Yuri asked, he wasn't going to make the boy tag along if he didn't want to, still didn't mean he wouldn't try to bait him to come along though; that thought alone made me giggle a bit.

"Well, it's to the west I guess, but…" Karol looked a little in panic, he really didn't want to go. Bait time!

"Let's check it out, then. Might be helpful for anybody thinking of starting a guild, too," Yuri said with that tone that just hinted it was bait; click bait!

And… it works all the time! Karol's face soon brightened up and his enthusiasm was back, "Huh? For starting a guild? Well let's go, then!"

"…" Rita just pouted, she didn't care about going to some guild city, especially without Estelle.

"What about you two?" Estelle asked a bit concerned. (Seriously, she sounds and is looking at me and Kairi like we're both two girls about to steal her man… to which technically we are, haha!).

"Follow Yuri and get home somehow," was my simple reply as I deadpanned, I had the excuse set in my head already.

Yuri just turned to us with an odd look, "And how is following me going to help you two get home?"

I wagged my finger, "1) We ended up in your cell. 2) You managed to somehow teleport from outside Deidon Hold back into it, kinda like the rift that possibly brought us here. 3) My gut is saying your linked to it somehow, and 4) You're kinda the only ones we've told about us being aliens, and so far we don't plan on telling anyone else… so kinda out of options on who to travel with, we certainly can't go back to the Capital with Estelle."

Yuri looked in thought as Rita shouted, "A rift that teleported you?! And you neglect to say anything about that?!"

Yuri backed up a bit, "I didn't think about it all too much. Though come to think of it, it was weird, first thing I was staring down a huge pack of monsters coming for me, next second, I was in a sea of white for a good solid few minutes, then I was dropped out of the sky into the Hold."

"And that's the same thing that happened to us. We were all hanging out in the living room, then there was just a flash of white, and we plopped into your cell," I responded, leaving out the thunder and lightning, making Yuri look in thought, as though trying to piece together the connection, but not finding any.

He then just sighed and gave us an awkward smile, "Alright, you two can tag along. It's not like we can just leave you two alone, or else I'll be seeing wanted posters all around for Liana at 500,000 gald."

I pounded my chest once, "And I'd be proud of it, beyotch!"

Kairi just giggled again uncontrollably as everyone gave me awkward stares, Estelle chiming in making Kairi laugh more, "I don't think that's actually something to be proud of…"

All the jokes off the table and agenda set, we all headed towards HQ to take Estelle to Flynn.

* * *

Right on scenario, Flynn wasn't in HQ, we turned to head back to the inn, he wasn't there. We all just decided to reconvene back in front of the blastia to think, just where was Flynn? (Sorry guys, your knight is in another castle~).

Rita just looked peeved, "It doesn't seem like that Flynn character is around here."

Karol then looked over at Estelle, "Does that mean you're staying with us for now?"

Estelle looked a bit happy at the opportunity to stick with us, but turned to Yuri for permission, "Well, I… Would that be alright?"

Yuri just pouted, "Karol, don't fill the princess's head with ideas."

I gave him an odd raised eyebrow, I knew he was only saying that because he didn't want to have to 'babysit' the princess, but at the same time he didn't see it that way, Estelle was just a friend. He could be so contrary at times, it's weird but refreshing a bit.

Out of seemingly nowhere to my right, Alexei came out speaking to Estelle is a serious tone, "You cannot simply do as you wish. Your Highness must return to the capital."

"HOLY SHIT!" I screamed as I gasped for air and freaked out at Alexei's sudden appearance; Kairi began patting my back as everyone gave me wide-eyed stares. I merely pointed my finger at Alexei and shouted as I regained air, "YOU ALMOST GAVE ME A FUCKING HEART ATTACK YOU…YOU, YOU, ALEXEI!"

That comment made Kairi giggle a bit as Alexei turned to me with a tiny pout, definitely not wanting to apologize, but with Kairi in view, I knew he was just playing 'the gentleman' card for her, "I apologize for startling you so."

"… S'ok, just don't do it again or you may end up like how Yuri ended up this morning. A bloody nose," I replied making Yuri cover his nose, recalling the punch I gave him for pinching my nose closed.

Alexei just gave me a bizarre look before returning his attention to Estelle, though the look in his eyes clearly said he wanted to talk to Kairi, "Flynn has already set out to tend to other business."

Khroma walked over, and I couldn't help but glare at her; I never liked Khroma one bit… until she becomes Sylph I probably never will like her. Though she gave me and Kairi some odd looks, making me just glare at her harder, I didn't mind showing her my displeasure at her gaze.

Alexei's words cut me out of my glare as I watched him waltz up to Rita, "Now then, Rita Mordio, we would like you to investigate yesterday's blastia malfunction."

Rita just turned away a bit, "…That's pointless. I looked at him this morning, but I couldn't figure anything out."

I had to wonder what Rita registered as a HE blastia and a SHE blastia… (my guess is… it's long, big, thicc, and standing up… it's a guy blastia for sure!), those thoughts made me silently giggle.

Alexei shook him head, "No, we would ask that you go to the forest of Keiv Moc."

Karol looked in thought before having a brain blast, "…Keiv Moc, huh? Oh yeah, the plants affected by the disaster here look just like the ones in that forest."

"We have reports of tree mutations and of monsters increasing in both number and aggressiveness. Messengers have gone to the capital, but much time will be wasted finding a gifted mage."

Rita just sassed, "I specialize in blastia. Plants are out of my league." (Oof! Nice one, Rita!)

"Consider their connection to the aer. I imagine that is within your league," Alexei pressed, god this guy was irritating.

Rita just pouted, "Besides…I….," she looked in thought before speaking her mind with an even larger pout, "If Estelle is going back to the capital, I want to go with her."

"Ristelle sails on~" I whispered lowly, causing Kairi to giggle uncontrollably again, completely catching Estelle's attention.

Estelle's head just jolted up as Khroma watched on with a straight face, "What do you mean?"

That made Kairi giggle even more as Estelle looked at her in confusion as well as to everyone else who was watching with odd eyes, Alexei had even turned to watch Kairi with soft eyes before returning to business, "You are a researcher in an imperial blastia laboratory. You must undertake the tasks assigned to you."

Kairi stopped giggling, and I gave him a harsh stare; I know that these researchers get a free house and funding for their research and living… but is it really necessary to treat them like they're just 'THINGS' to be owned and told what to do, at your convenience?! Come to think of it, it was no different than us as players or 'users' as Tron would put it, telling programs or characters what to do. Ugh, using my brain too much hurts…

Rita turned to give him a harsh stare as well, though Estelle quickly ran over to her, seeing it as an opportunity to keep traveling with us, "Um… Then there should be no problem if I accompany her to the forest, right?"

Alexei looked like he just inwardly sighed hard as he turned to Estelle, "Princess, please, do not make suggestions that are simply out of the question."

Estelle just turned to him with a determined look, "If this does have something to do with aer, then my healing artes would prove useful."

"Yes, they would…" Alexei said simply in thought.

Estelle continued her assault, "Please, Alexei! Let me do my part to help."

Alexei just gave her a concern looked, "Your Highness, I simply cannot allow you to go to such a dangerous forest."

Kairi then ran over, "I'll accompany her too, I can help out as well!"

Alexei's gaze widened before turning into a soft but very concerned gaze, his tone dripping with concern, "Please Miss Kairi, I cannot accept that you go to such a forest as well. Your body is intensely fragile to aer, we almost lost you yesterday, I can't bear to think of what might happen should you go."

Kairi's cheeks tinged a bit pink at his straightforwardness, and my jaw just about dropped, "Wow, he can say that no problem… he's truly a dangerous man…," but I walked over, "I'll go to. For someone claiming concern, you certainly don't seem too concerned about having ask Rita to go alone. She may be a famed mage, but she's also just a child… as the eldest I'll go to keep them out of trouble."

"I seem to recall you being the source of trouble though…" Yuri blurted out with an odd smile making me pout big time. Alexei just now gave me questioning looks as I threw a tantrum, "What?! I am the eldest! I'm 26 years old believe it or not, going on 27 in a few weeks! Kairi's birthday is in a few weeks too, but she's only going to be 21! And Yuri's… I don't know! But I'm the older one, honest!"

Estelle looked in thought as Alexei's gaze was becoming more questioning, "Well, what if…," she looked around until her gaze fell on Yuri, "Yuri, would you come with us?"

Yuri's eyes just widened, his tone that of pure shock, "Me?"

Estelle then turned to Alexei, "If Yuri were to come, you wouldn't be worried right?"

Alexei looked in thought before turning to Yuri, "Young man, please escort the Princess and these young ladies. I ask this of you only because you once sought to join the Imperial Knights."

Yuri just turned to pout, "…Of all the underhanded… I didn't ask anybody to count on me. You're pushing me into this."

That quote made me pout angrily, I just wanted to yank his ear as hard as humanely possible without ripping it off yet still inflicting intense pain. I felt a pang in my chest and turned to see Kairi turning away, tears looked like they were about to fall from her eyes, the quote hurt a lot more than one would think. It frustrated me because it was like he was calling us a burden, and the way he spoke it like he was fed up, it was like he bottled it up and it just came out, like his previous friendliness towards us was out of 'obligation' and not genuinely. That alone made me want to punch him in the nose again.

"It seems I can take that reply as indication of your agreement," Alexei said happily as though Yuri had just agreed to buy a house off him.

Yuri of course turned to Alexei with a strict look, "But there's something I have to do as well. We go to the forest after Dahngrest."

"Very well," Alexei replied before turning to leave. Khroma then turned to Alexei, "Your Excellency…"

"It seems Flynn foresaw this outcome," Alexei said in a loud whisper, loud enough for us to hear.

His quote made Yuri turn around in curiosity, "Huh? He did what?"

Alexei then turned back to Yuri, "He left this message for you: "'Take care of Her Highness and Miss Kairi'," he then looked over at Kairi, only to look concerned as she had her back to everyone, she was lightly trembling and I knew, she was crying or at least holding it back big time… damnit Yuri, why you gotta be so rude?

Estelle bowed in gratitude as Kairi quickly wiped her eyes but tried to keep forward, not wanting the others to see her face at all as Karol piped up happily, "All right then, it's the forest of Keiv Moc by way of Dahngrest!"

I decided to get back at Yuri though a bit as I walked behind him and tapped his shoulder, making his head turn around as I pointed my index finger out, his cheek getting poked by my finger, "Huh?"

"Geez Yuri… four pretty ladies ask you to escort them, and you want to turn that down? You sure you got a pair down there, were you neutered, or do you just swing 'that' way?" I pouted big time.

He gave me a silly grin before teasing, "Well don't try to tempt me to show you."

"That's something I'd NEVER want to do, trust me…" I deadpanned, before giving him a killer smile to hide my frustration so I could pull off what I was going to do next, "Although right now, that's not my problem…"

In the blink of an eye my extended finger moved and gripped his ear tightly and yanked on it HARD, "OW OW OW OW! LIANA! WHAT THE HELL?!"

I hissed in his face, but whispered so the others wouldn't hear despite that everyone was now giving us odd looks and Estelle was trying to 'calm' me down, "Hate me all you want, but I'm not gonna let you get off with that shit you just said! You fucking made Kairi cry, you ass! You better apologize or else I'm gonna… I don't think you'd allow me to paint you black and blue, so…. I'll forbid Kairi from EVER making you sweets again! And all those are always a trip to heaven! No sweets made by her, EVER, ya hear me?!"

Yuri lightly flinched at that, hey the man loves his sweets; but he quickly turned to Kairi whose back was still turned to all of us, an odd look of curiosity, guilt, and confusion mixed in his expression. He was probably wondering just what the heck he did to make her cry. Another hiss of pain and he turned to me with a serious expression, "Geez, okay. I'll apologize later, just let go of my ear now, that really hurts."

I let go of his ear and he began to rub his ear, Estelle fussing over him as I made my way over to Kairi, whispering so the others couldn't hear, "You okay?"

She sniffled a little but nodded, trying not to open her mouth for possibly many reasons.

I just sighed big time, baby sitting this group was tough work, I could see why Yuri is the way he is with the group as it grows. I turned to Alexei who was busy watching us all, but mainly watching Kairi's back with concern. He was probably waiting on us to leave to fill in Schwann on his new assignment, 'babysitting Estelle until kidnapping time'! Oh yay!

Once Estelle stopped fussing on Yuri, we all headed out as Estelle once again bowed to Alexei to bid him farewell.

* * *

-*- Alexei -*-

Karol: I'm glad that Commandant Alexei turned out to be so reasonable.

Rita: Yeah, I thought he'd be more of a stubborn jerk myself.

Liana: I'm not buying it…

Estelle: Had you met him before, Yuri?

Yuri: I knew him, but I doubt he knew me. I was barely in the Knights for any time at all, really.

Karol: What sort of person is he, I wonder?

Estelle: He can be very formal at times. But in a way, he's something of a symbol for the Knights. Many who are in the Knights now were inspired to join by Alexei's example.

Liana: Oh, that's right… you weren't there for all the fun stuff!

Estelle: Fun stuff?

Liana: Oh nothing, just Alexei trying to buy Kairi and a bunch of booty calling.

Estelle: Booty… calling…?

Yuri: Heh. One thing's clear. I don't have much in common with him.

Kairi: *pout*

* * *

-*-The Hunting Blades and the Monster -*-

Estelle: What do you think that scary monster we saw back in Caer Bocram was?

Yuri: That beast was way tougher than anything I've ever seen before. If it didn't run away when it did, we'd have been in a world of hurt.

Rita: That's a surprisingly cautious opinion, coming from you. Not that I disagree, when it comes to a monster like that.

Estelle: Do you think it was the Hunting Blades who trapped it in a reverse barrier?

Yuri: … Yeah, probably… It looked like they'd come to take that monster down. Whatever the case, I don't want to meet up with a monster like that again.

Liana: *pout* Yuri… you're going to jinx us!

Yuri: !

* * *

-*- Becoming Estelle -*-

Rita: Estelle, there's something I want to ask you.

Estelle: Yes, what is it? … Wait!

Rita: What's the matter?

Estelle: Could you repeat what you just said?

Rita: I said, there's something I want to ask you.

Estelle: No, before that!

Rita: Es…telle?

Estelle: Yes! You finally called me Estelle! I've got to go tell everyone!

Rita: …Oh, well… heh heh…

Liana: And Ristelle sails on~!

Rita: !

* * *

-*- Rita's Change -*-

Rita: …Honestly, these girls…

Karol: Huh?

Rita: Kairi and Estelle. Estelle rushes off regardless of the danger, and Kairi just runs off for just about any reason like trying to talk to a monster or putting in a code… They don't even listen when you tell them to stop…

Yuri: So Estellise has finally become Estelle, huh?

Rita: I… I've been calling her that for a while… What's with you, anyway?

Liana: And bringing up Kairi… please don't destroy my OTP… (Though secretly I don't want Estelle with ANYONE…)

Rita: OT-! W-What?!

Karol: Hey, you know… Your tone of voice was different, just then… Maybe it's just my imagination…

Rita: You're damn right, it is!

Karol: Ahh, there's the Rita we all know and love.

Liana: Um, 'Love' might be pushing it…

Rita: How about you both just shut up? Who cares what I say or how I sound?!

Yuri: Not me. Here's to you being you, Rita.

Rita: Humph…!

* * *

Yuri and I headed up to the inn to do a quick supply restock despite having plenty; but with the 'princess' tagging along he wanted to be well prepared. As we walked to the door a voice made me jump in place.

"Oho, you found me!" a voice came from the pillar.

I swung my head around trying to find the source, but concluded… it was the pillar…why was it the pillar…?

"Find you? I don't even know who you are! Are you a relative of that nut job Wonder Chef or something?" I argued with the pillar…. Yes… I argued with it… why was I arguing with a pillar?

Suddenly he went on a long rant, "The Wonder Chef? Oh! You must mean my cousin! Blastia goes out of control, and more! A young girl being wooed by the Commandant of the Knights! A 50,000 gald criminal is free of charges! Yes, some serious events have taken place in the world recently! I'd better write an article about it, post haste! Day and night, I run around chasing after the newest scoops... I'm the Wonder Reporter! I'm not stalking you or anything, I promise! Well then, adieu!"

"… Is he following me…?" Was Yuri's only response as he looked a bit shocked.

"That's just what a stalker would say!" I shouted as I shook Yuri by the shoulders in a freak out mode.

Something not many people know about me… the Wonder Reporter creeped me out with his ability to be just about anywhere… I can't tell you how long I spent searching EVERY CORNER of the game to see if he was anywhere…

Yuri did his best to stop me from slapping the pillar silly (Which really hurts…) as he dragged me by force into the inn for our supply shopping, he had to drag me away when we left too. Lord knows how many people gave me looks that only increased my paranoia. Now I knew how Sticks felt like in Sonic Boom.

* * *

We ventured onward towards Dahngrest, it was pretty uneventful, after all my period was ending, so monsters weren't swarming on us anymore, but we did run into a few. Though my poor completionist nature was driving me nuts that we didn't head back to see Yuri's friend Hachette, Drake, or return to Caer Bocram to see Duke again and get everyone on the subject of 'What makes a monster'. It's a bit of an educational moment for them and I was upset they weren't getting it; curse not being on the end of the controller.

We set up camp in the middle of nowhere, this trip would take a few days, good thing Yuri made us restock a lot more.

"I'm surprised we didn't run into that many monsters," Karol said with a slight yawn, exhausted from all the walking we'd been doing. I'd be lying if I said I was doing fine; heavy girl, lots of walking, the two don't mix well.

"That's because my period is ending, any scent of blood is now just faint," I replied cheerfully as I watched Yuri set the fire up.

Yuri turned to me with a smirk, "Good, because the last thing we needed was a swarm of monsters every few minutes. Especially when we're not sure how much farther we have to go until we hit Dahngrest."

"We're half way there, we may make it by the morning after tomorrow," Karol answered as he sat down, near the fire.

Rita was busy reading a book a bit away, probably waiting until we'd declare dinner ready.

Kairi just remained quiet, unsure of what to say; even I couldn't figure how to start talking to her.

I prepared to make dinner until Estelle walked up to me, journal in hand, "Umm, Liana…"

"Hm? What up, Elley?" I replied as I turned to her, recipe for miso soup in hand.

She tilted her head, "Elley?", before shaking her head to put herself back on track, rubbing her toes on the ground like a shy school girl, her cheeks were even pink… GOD DAMMIT STOP RUINING MY RISTELLE OTP!

"I… I was wondering. Since you… um, kind of got the hang of reading our language… could you teach me how to read and write yours?" Estelle asked with pleading green eyes.

I blinked dumbly at her, "… You want me… to teach you English?!"

Let me get one thing straight… English is not an easy language to read or write for those that don't know it. She may have oral fluency in it, but for reading and writing… I was seeing a disastrous drama in the making.

"Yes!" Estelle said with stars in her eyes, she wanted to learn all right… curses, English is one of the subjects I hate the most…

I pouted, staring at her, then back to our dinner, then to her, then to dinner; teaching her would take so much time… and I needed to start cooking before the sun goes down… and if I teacher her the sun will be down before she can even reach the letter C!

"I'd like to attend this session as well; it sounds interesting if it can have you make 'that' face," Rita kicked in almost mockingly.

"I think I'll pass…" Karol said with a sweat drop, probably having bad flash backs from that 'teacher' of his that we'll meet in a Brave Vesperia Side quest… maybe.

"I don't blame you baby boy, I hate English too. Ugh… okay, I'll teach you both… but I am not teaching you ANY Japanese… because even I'm still learning and am not that good," I said with my hands on my hips, "but maybe tomorrow, daylight is burning, and I have dinner to make."

Yuri then kicked in giving me a wide grin, "No problems, I got dinner handled, so you can teach away."

I turned to him with a harsh glare, he only grinned wider… he was doing it on purpose, probably because he knows I'm not happy doing it, and payback for yanking his ear.

"Ugh, fine, we start with the alphabet!" I replied as Estelle practically bounced in place, and Rita was feigning a lack of interest. I just sighed, this felt like it was going to be a long afternoon.

* * *

Once it was dark, we headed back to the campfire, we had moved a bit away to avoid the smell of food to focus on the lesson better.

"I had no idea that English could be so, complicated," Estelle said exhaustively.

"Complicated? It's completely insane and unnecessary," Rita scoffed, exhausted as well, "Why do you need 2 cases for a letter anyway?!"

"Because people find all caps to be a bit, aggressive, I guess…no offense to you guy's language being in all caps, that made it so much easier," I replied, worn out myself, so far, being a teacher even if for a few hours was just too much, they only made it to the letter D and they had trouble because they thought the capital D and lower-case d looked like the capital B and lower case b…. Wait till they see capital O and Q, and lower-case q, p, and g…. and M, N, and W…

Our meals were set on the ground on top of our blankets to sleep on by our sleeping bags (We bought those, though I brought mine from my bag), set and waiting for us; Yuri changed the menu from Miso Soup to Salisbury Steak, YUM! Karol had an empty plate beside him, he was fast asleep on top of his sleeping bag… but there was no Yuri in sight.

"Where's Yuri?" Estelle asked peaking around the area, hoping to catch sight of the long-haired swordsman.

"Yeah, the dogs not here too," Rita said scanning around also.

I rubbed my chin, "Well, I don't see Kairi either… so… my guess is Yuri must've gone to play bodyguard while Kairi goes to the bathroom, and Repede sensing us coming back might've gone ahead to check on them. Because I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have left Karol alone asleep without some way of knowing he'd be safe, and we weren't that far away, we were still in relatively good distance… Or maybe they decided to go on a walk when Repede sensed us coming back… I'm not a psychic, please stop me when I start thinking of all situations!"

"Should we go look for them then?" Estelle said concerned.

I sweat dropped, her concern seemed more that the two were perhaps alone somewhere rather than their safety, "Estelle, they can handle themselves. Lets just eat and head to bed."

She just pouted as Rita had already begun eating her meal quietly, but she gave in and sat down to eat.

I sighed heavily as I ate my steak, Yuri was probably trying to apologize to Kairi for what happened at Heliord. Though my dirt brain activated, and I almost had a nosebleed at my imagination of what those two could be doing, all alone, in the middle of the woods, under a half moonlit night… (it'd be more romantic if it was a full moon…)

After a good thirty minutes, the two returned with Repede in tow. Estelle was the first to jump up to check on them in concern, "Are you two alright? You just disappeared like that."

"Huh?" Yuri said confused, "We were just talking a bit away, nothing that interesting."

Kairi just remained silent, her expression hadn't changed from what it was earlier… my guess, Yuri either didn't apologize, or their conversation wasn't so eventful… poor Kairi, it's a moonlit night and not one move, Yuri is certainly infamous for not showing any interest in women… wonder how he'd feel if it was Flynn in the moonlit night… Commence Yaoi Dirt Brain!

"Oh," Estelle replied almost in relief… yeah, how he can't see she just wants the D is beyond me…

"Well, lets head to bed, we're heading out early tomorrow. I'll wash these first thing in the morning," Yuri spoke up as he gathered up the empty plates.

"I'd normally say, 'Unless you'd like severe stains, bugs, and monsters to swarm overnight', but seeing as we have no water source nearby to wash them, yeah, I'll agree," I grin awkwardly as I stared at the pile of now dirty plates.

"To bed, I said," Yuri said with a silly grin in return.

"Yes father, give me a minute," I replied with a giggle which earned me a funny look from Yuri as I snuggled up under my blankets looking at the others.

Estelle just nodded and returned to her sleeping area to lay down for bed; Rita just fell over backwards, stretched, and began to try to sleep on hers. Kairi went to her sleeping area silently, seriously, this was so awkward I could even bring myself to ask her what was up for once.

* * *

I tried falling asleep, but the steak re-energized me so now I was awake… that or my old night owl habits were kicking in again, I sometimes couldn't sleep until 8 a.m. the next day when that happens. I then felt something yank on my blanket, almost making me scream in a panic, but thankfully I turned around to see Yuri staring at me from laying on his sleeping bag (Repede always takes first watch y'see).

"Geez Yuri, give me a heart attack while you're at it, why don't cha?" I replied with a whisper, not wanting to wake anyone else up.

"Sorry, I didn't know if you were awake or asleep," Yuri whispered back with an awkward grin.

I blinked dumbly at him for a while, waiting on him to say what was up, but apparently he was waiting on me to ask, "So… what's up? Can't sleep either?"

"I wanted to ask, do you know what I did to upset Kairi?" Yuri asked with a serious expression, and hushed tone.

I blinked stupidly again, this time gawking, and almost squealed in frustration, "You seriously don't know what the hell you did back then?!"

Yuri just frowned with a pout, "Hey, if I knew, this would make apologizing easier… although, I'm not sure on how to go about doing that yet…do you got any ideas on how I can apologize to her?"

I reached over and poked his chest (Yup, still squishy~), "Well your still delightfully squishy. Smother her in your squishiness, and she might be happy. She likes squishy."

His eyes just widened, and his jaw dropped open with a slight quiver before responding with a serious whisper, "I'm being serious here!"

(Just date her for a week, that'll perk her right up!) I wanted to shout, but he was being serious, and somehow that was frustrating me, "You really want to start a war with me, don't you? I warn you, I know a lot of wrestling holds, I can bind you and tickle you till you beg for sweet death~."

He just sweat dropped, "Leave it to you to make something as harmless as tickling, sound deadly… but really, how am I supposed to apologize if I don't know what I did."

"Good point I suppose, you are dense after all…," I replied which earned me a strict pout, "Any who, you said, and I quote 'I didn't ask anybody to count on me. You're pushing me into this.'"

"And?" Yuri asked, still not getting it.

I felt a vein in my head tick, "You basically were calling us burdens and your tone was like you just had it with us! In other words, it insinuated you've been lying to our very souls with false friendship, concern, and… I don't know what more to add…"

His eyes just widened, "Huh? How did me saying that, equal to that?!"

I grumbled, "That does it! Figure it out yourself! Rawwwrrr!"

I pounced on him and held him down with a move I saw in a UFC match once, pulled out 2 bottles and a sponge. I popped open the bottles, smeared it on the sponge and began to dab Yuri wherever he had exposed skin.

"Hey! Knock it off! What are you doing?!" Yuri asked with a hiss, a bit dumbfounded Repede wasn't helping him.

I grinned from ear to ear and shook the blue bottle before him, "'Painting you black and blue', like I originally wanted to."

If ever Yuri looked into the face of fear, it would reveal me, "Liana! Knock it off right now! Repede! Get her off! C'mon, there's no water nearby to wash it off! C'mon! Stop it!"

* * *

We all awoke early thanks to Yuri, though I was in more of a bad mood since he decided to wake me up with a beetle on my face… I hate bugs! (Except butterflies, Slugs, and Snails; those can pass…).

"Y-Y-Yu-Yu," Estelle replied when she spotted Yuri, covering her mouth, obvious hiding back laughter.

Kairi giggled hard as well, Rita just burst into laughter, and Karol was the only one to ask, "Huh? Yuri? Why are you black and blue?"

He frowned and turned to me, "Because one mischievous child doesn't know how to behave."

I just gave a thumb up, "And proud of it!"

Yuri just sighed as we all got things put up and headed out; we still had just a little more than 1 day of travelling still to go.

* * *

Dahngrest was in the distance, we'd come close, but even travelling by night, we were all so exhausted, we couldn't continue onwards (Which is pretty good since once we reach there, we gotta fight a hoard of monsters…).

Karol yawned, "We're so close, but I'm so tired."

"Yeah, lets set up camp here tonight..." Yuri replied, he had been in thought all day, probably thinking about what I said last night, minus the beautiful blue and black camo painting I did on him, he washed that off at a nearby river (Awww, I worked so hard on that…).

We all pitched in to set up camp, and once the fire was set, I began to rummage through the ingredients as Yuri stood up and turned to Kairi, "Hey, Kairi."

"H-huh? What is it?" She asked a bit nervously, her cheeks a tiny bit flushed.

"Care to join me on a walk? I kinda need to talk to you about something," Yuri simply replied scratching the back of his head nervously.

Kairi's cheeks flushed a deeper red, "Huh? Uh, well… O-Okay…"

"Talk about what?" Estelle asked curiously, obviously wanting to pry into their walk.

"Yeah, something so private even we can't hear it?" Rita pouted, she seemed more upset that Kairi agreed to walk with him than Yuri asking Kairi to join… Stop ruining Ristelle!

"It is. And you two have English lessons in a bit, don't you? We won't be long, and I'll handle dinner again tonight," Yuri replied with a serious gaze (Yeah Yuri! You tell those bitches you can walk with whoever you damn well like!).

"…O-Okay…" Estelle said with a frown, pouting at the thought of the two being alone, again.

"It better not be long or else," Rita threatened with a scowl.

Yuri just nodded and turned to Kairi before turning to walk off.

"Uh… W-wait! Please wait! I can't walk that fast!" Kairi shouted as she ran to catch up to Yuri's side.

"… So…. Who's up for more D practice before we get onto E, F, possibly G?…" I turned to the two girls with an uncomfortable smirk…. I hate English…

Judging by their sighs, they hated it too…

* * *

The walk didn't take as long as one would expect, just 20 minutes, then they were back before the sun went down. Nothing seemed to have changed, except Kairi's mood being a bit lifted; guess Yuri apologized… or asked her out… nah gotta be the apology, if he had asked her out he'd have brought her back unconscious in his arms due to her fainting.

Any ways, can't talk or think, I got my mouth full of Miso Soup! Mmmm!

I awoke to a shake on my shoulder, "Mmm wha-?"

I blinked sleepily and rubbed my eyes to see Yuri looking down at me, "Your turn to take watch."

"Awww Fine," I pouted as I got up and sat on the log, at least the moonlight was on and it wasn't pitch black.

I watched as everyone slept, come to think of it, with everyone so deep in sleep like I was, if I wake them up for a monster attack, would they be able to do it? Meh, no way to tell…

"Hiiiiiiiisssssssssssssss," I heard a rattle and shrill hiss sound behind me a bit away. Seems a group of basilisks tried to be stealthy until the first one was like 20 feet away, where it just had to give itself up.

"WUAH! GUYS! IT'S THE ATTACK OF THE PREHISTORIC REPTILES!" I shouted… no one woke up…

"GUYS!" I shouted again as they drew closer, no one woke up, even Repede was still asleep.

"Awww come on…" I pouted as I grabbed my gauntlets and went on a rampage, hey we were gonna need these scales and things for *cough* that quest *cough*.

After I killed the last one, I sat down on the ground to regain my breath, feeling completely grossed out covered in basilisk blood… ewwww, my own blood is gross enough; when I heard a yawn behind me. I turned to see the others waking up rubbing their eyes, "*Yawn* What's going on?"

"Yeah *yawn* tune it down, some of us are trying to sleep you know!" Rita shouted groggily.

"GUYS! WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!" I shouted angrily, my face was probably tomato red at my fury.

"*Yawn* Keep it down, or you'll wake up Estelle," Yuri yawned out.

I stomped over to my bag and grabbed the one thing I hoped to never use… but was too steaming mad to care about anyways…

I waltzed over to the group, prepared my 'surprise', and swiftly gave their arms a quick shock with my JOLT rechargeable police stun gun flashlight my mother bought me; with a good dose of 95M volt power!

"OW! WHAT THE-!" Yuri shouted as he jolted awake.

"OW!" Rita and Karol also shouted.

Estelle and Kairi just screamed.

"What's the deal Lian….ah….." Yuri first started out furious, but his gaze and tone soon turned to horror as the moonlight accented the basilisk blood I was drenched in, giving a maniacal smirk and laugh, and giving my stun gun a few taps to let the electricity pop in a frightening manner.

One word echoed throughout the forest that night from the lips of 1 man, 1 child, 1 teen, and 2 women.

"AAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

Do not worry; no Repedes' were harmed during this process, nor did he care :D

* * *

Morning came, and we headed to Dahngrest, which was only about a 6 hour walk away.

"Ugh man, I'm gonna have nightmares for years," Karol whined as Dahngrest kept coming closer to view.

"Did you have to go full on crazy last night? Sheesh, I even had nightmares after that fiasco," Yuri pouted with a shiver.

"Well excuse me for disturbing your sleep when a group of monsters attack! You guys get to sleep, and I had to do all the work, yeah that's totally fair!" I pouted angrily.

"Man, your period sure is acting up," Rita replied, even she was afraid to get sassy like she normally does after last night's little escapade.

"MY PERIOD WAS DONE WITH SINCE YESTERDAY! I'M JUST THAT MAD! I'M ENRAGED! AND I JUST WANT A SHOWER! DO YOU KNOW WHAT BASILISK BLOOD SMELLS LIKE?!" I shouted angrily, especially since I knew I wasn't getting that shower.

"Um, I don't know," Karol replied nervously.

I scrambled my hair in frustration, "IT SMELLS LIKE SHIT!"

Kairi just kept her distance from me, everyone was, I was a loose cannon and any little thing could get me to fire.

* * *

Once we crossed the bridge, I was tempted to jump into the river… seriously, this stuff stinks and I want it off!

Karol turned to us, his hands on his hips, chest out, pride flowing from his tone and posture, "This is Dahngrest, my hometown."

The first thing I did was stare at the sky, I forget the reason why, but according to the Kokuu no Kamen manga, the sky of Dahngrest got stuck in afternoon mode for daytime due to something… just what was it? I don't even recall if the manga covered it… probably not if I don't recall.

"Looks like a pretty lively place," Yuri replied after giving the town a look around.

"Well, it's the second largest city after the imperial capital. It's run entirely by the guilds," Karol stated as a matter of factly.

Yuri looked around again before responding, "I thought it'd be more dark and dank, you know? Like a den of villains."

"That's just a prejudice people have about the guilds," Karol replied a bit upset.

"I'm sure the bad reputation of the Blood Alliance is to blame for that," Estelle said trying to help out.

"Yeah. Jeez, Yuri. You make it sound like I'm a villain," Karol pouted.

"If you're a villain, what does that make these two?" Rita said pointing at me and Yuri.

"Well I'm a villain," I said raising my hand, "No questions need be asked~."

"Point taken," Yuri replied with a sigh.

"It may be due to that and culture difference, people do have stereotypes of people who are different. It all just comes down to what's accepted and familiar between them, and in that regard, it's not a lot in common it seems," I replied as I looked around, turning to see everyone staring at me wide eyed, "WHAT?!"

"Huh, nothing. That's just, pretty insightful is all," Yuri replied turning away, hoping not to anger me.

"… I am the elder here you know…" I responded dumbly staring at the group.

"Not like you act like it and keep up that image though," Rita pouted as I turned to her with a pout of my own.

"So," Yuri said loudly getting all our attention, "how should we go about tracking down Barbos?"

"The best way is probably to stop by the Union and check there," Karol answered quickly.

Estelle raised her head in her know it all way, I felt my headache coming on already even before she spoke, "The Union. A guild collectively run by the fie so-called 'master guilds.'… Right?"

"Yeah," Karol said a bit unimpressed (Awww baby boy X3 ), "The Union also serves as the city's government."

Rita now looked confused, "But, how is this gonna work? Isn't Barbos' Blood Alliance one of the five master guilds?"

Yuri of course looked unfazed, if anything he looked more happy than usual, "Which means if we lay a hand on him, we'll be picking a fight with the Union as well."

"No skin off my bones, fighting the machine is always great…. Until they send secret government agencies to try to silence you with 'accidental' toaster explosions!" I shouted and flailed my arm dramatically for effect to show the explosion.

Everyone just stared at me odd, period or not, I was losing my mind in this world big time.

"…We won't know the answer to that until we ask the Don," Karol continued form where they left off, making me pout big time.

"The Don is the boss of the Union, isn't he?" Yuri looked down at Karol to ask him.

Karol then put on his signature hand on hip, wagging finger pose… I need a name for that, it's sooo…. adorable!

"Yep. Don Whitehorse, leader of Altosk, the most powerful of the five master guilds," Karol said in such a prideful voice.

"All right, let's go see what the Don has to say then," Yuri said making up his mind on our next course of action, "You know the way, right Karol?"

Karol then panicked, but kept his gaze low, "Hey wait, he's not the kind of person you can just meet… I don't really know if…"

"Please?" Estelle asked nicely, albeit pleadingly.

Karol just dropped his head down and sighed big time, keeping silent for a good few seconds before responding almost robotically, "… Union headquarters is in the north part of town."

"But first…. I need a shower…." I replied angrily, not wanting to have to go into battle soaked in blood.

"Let's find an inn then first," Yuri said with a tone that ranged from nervous to a bit irritated that his plan was getting a detour.

I perked up, because 1) a shower and 2) shop in the inn! Huzzah for dual helpful places!

* * *

After a shower and a good meal, we all decided to chill in the inn today as we left camp around 11 a.m. (or so my phone said) due to oversleeping due to 'nightmares' everyone had, causing a lack of sleep. It took us 6 hours to reach Dahngrest, and I took over an hour in that shower… it had to be about 6-7 p.m. already.

Plus that, and Kairi was yawning a lot, which made Yuri sigh and give up going to see the Don today, and making Kairi apologize like no tomorrow.

Had to admit, Dahngrest had some pretty comfy beds, it almost could rival the nice fluffy beds from that suite we stayed in at Heliord. But more than that… the story was hitting us fast… soon we'd be facing Barbos… and then it's taking Estelle to Phaeroh… but the most important thing on my mind… was the murder of Ragou…and what to do to take pre-measures and precautions in case something happened…

* * *

OMG This took forever because college is really nailing down on me. And I still have 1 last quiz this week to do!

Caryn: Too bad you don't have a career yet. I got my schedule for my shifts at the hospital fixed, unless we have emergencies where we all get called in or I get called to ask if I want someone's shift since they won't be making it due to reasons or other. So, I'm fully aware of my free time~

Lucky… so far I've had NO free time since the first day of this term other than a few hours here and there. Most my free time goes to discussion boards, reflections, reading, and I still have to find a center to observe for at least one day! Most places I've contacted won't even let me despite me explaining I'm a university student and it's for an assignment… an assignment that's worth a GOOD CHUNK of my grade!

Caryn: Oof, good luck with that.

Q-Q Your just happy you got some Flynn time.

Caryn: Fuck yeah I am! Though one question…. *whisper whisper*

… OMG I haven't even thought about that yet… Ffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!

Caryn: And I've done my job :3

I feel bad for the readers that may want to support that pairing…. It's a dream that can never be…. Except maybe in the crack version once the main story is over :3

Next time: The Don! And maybe some Keiv Moc.


	24. 23: Boobs and an Old Man (Which one?)

Permanent Note: If you aren't keeping up with the Drabbles, you'll be lost on some things as the chapters progress~ Keep up with that ;D

Please remember, ( ) parenthesis are MY thoughts, _italics are telepathic talk between me and Kairi_

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Tales of Vesperia, Justin, or Caryn. I DO have permission to use Justin and Caryn though. I OWN myself, Kairi, and my work in this fic. That is all….

* * *

The inn keeper awoke us, as Yuri asked for a wake up call first thing in the morning for us to get up to eat and get going.

"Why is it the afternoon?! We asked for a morning wake up call!" Rita fused as she stared up at the sky.

I wondered too, but odds are… we'll never get an answer…

"It's always like that, except for at night. No one here really knows why though," Karol answered.

"Huh, weird," Yuri replied as he checked out the sky as well.

And onward we headed north towards HQ, until Karol froze and stopped in the middle of the town square… er, circle. He was looking around like a paranoid person checking his back for his stalker… Ah one of these days that paranoia is gonna stem from fear of ME stalking him, haha.

Yuri and the others stopped when we noticed our 'guide' stopped in his tracks.

Rita just walked over, she had fallen behind, but got up in his face when it became clear he wasn't paying attention to us, "Hey, what are you doing?"

At the sound of her frustrated voice, Karol quickly perked up, "What? Uh, n-nothing."

On cue, I quickly noticed the two men nearby glancing our way and smirking when they noticed Karol, both of them striding up with devious chuckles. The skinny one in blue with a sword was the first to remark, "Hmm? Well, well, if it ain't little Karol!"

The bulky guy in armor just scoffed angrily at him, "What the hell are you thinking, coming back here?"

Karol sounded panicked, but his head dropped as he shouted, "H-hey! Wh-what's with you?!"

The blue one sassed, "Yeah, I don't see Nan. She already ditch you? Ah hah hah hah!"

Karol then looked up at the two of them with an angry pout, "N-no way! She wouldn't stop nagging so I took off!"

Karol was so cute, but I wasn't gonna let him be bullied for much longer; I just needed to unbutton a few more buttons, I was only at 50% boobage, I needed at least 80% to pull off what I wanted to do, that and have a fail safe in case what I think happens, actually happens.

"This would explain why Karol wasn't too eager to go to Dahngrest," Yuri spoke to Estelle who was internally fuming big time I could tell as she stood on her toes, hands at her side in fists stretched down, and she was glaring.

" _Kairi!_ " I telepathically called for her.

" _Huh? What?_ " Kairi responded.

" _Take out your breasts!_ " I shouted internally, making her almost fall over.

" _WHY?!_ " She squeaked back.

" _Because we need to support Karol!_ " I simple answered.

" _Can't we do it another way?!_ " She asked panicking.

"… _Then just say what I tell you to say then!_ " I remarked with an internal smirk.

"So are you the latest guild to take him in? You could do a lot better than that loser," The bulky one finally remarked.

The blue one just sassed again (Hey, Me, Yuri, and Judy are the only sassy ones allowed in this game!), "All this kid can brag about is the number of guilds he's joined! Oh, right, that's a bad thing."

"Are these your friends, Karol? You could do a lot better than these losers," Yuri butted in finally to start the roasting.

"Wh-what did you say?!" the blue one remarked stuttering, shocked that someone would sass back.

Estelle just pointed at them, before firing away, "Such undignified men!"

"Shut up!" The bulky one shouted, not so surprised at all.

"You sure have a way of saying things. I mean, you're right, but…" Rita began, though she was caught between defending Karol and letting him just get roasted.

"Yeah, you just keep talking…" the blue one sassed angrily.

"Oh, what's that I hear? Starting to give up then, my goodness," I replied with a scoff as I noticed his voice shifting from shock to not wanting to deal with this anymore, but still trying to keep his bravado.

"Mrrrrffff!" Karol flailed as I smothered him in my now almost 85% exposed breasts.

"You say joining lots of guilds is a bad thing," I replied, before taking on a more seductive tone and rubbing Karol's fluffy hair, "But I do love a handy, well experienced, 'bad' boy."

"Wh-Gu-Wh-What?! W-W-Who are y-y-you to talk?!" the blue one stuttered, his face turning into a tomato since his eyes couldn't help be drawn to where I wanted them to land.

"Y-Yeah!" The bulky one joined in, his face just as red as the blue ones, only he wasn't losing his cool.

"Don't worry, you can join me in bed tonight baby boy, you've always been, so 'good' to me after all," I replied making the blue shirted one have a nose bleed.

"H-Huh? B-But I, Mrrrr," Karol replied, his face turning just as red.

" _Kairi! Help me out here, hug him too!_ " I shouted internally.

Kairi got on her knees and hugged Karol's arms, her breasts squeezed against his arm; If she had been wearing a dress that didn't cover up her breasts, his arm would be completely enveloped in her cleavage.

" _Repeat after me!_ " I smirked inwardly.

Kairi shook a little, her face turning into a tomato, but complied, "Y-you can sleep with me too! No fair, Liana, hogging him all to yourself! I want to s-smother him too!"

"Aren't you happy about all the perks you get baby boy?" I cooed happily.

"That loser isn't supposed to have perks," the bulky one complained angrily.

I stood up and crossed my arms under my breasts to lift and squeeze them together to emphasize how large they are, "Well he does. He's more man than you at his age certainly. It's not my fault you're not man enough to have them."

He growled, and he did the one thing I figured he'd do… try to grab my chest, like the low minded, unchivalrous, nave I figured him for.

It's not recommended in the manual since there were vital organs there…but I'm evil! As he lunged out an arm at me, I locked his forearm with my left arm, and with that grip, took my stun gun and gave him a few good zaps to the stomach.

He fell over drooling, completely unconscious due to multiple powerful volts, his body jerking due to the shock.

I turned and smiled at the blue one and did what I've always wanted to do since watching Whose Line long ago… copy Ryan Stiles version of Carol Channing, "I know what you're thinking. Did I fire seven shots or six?"

He backed up as I clapped my hands together, smiling more devilishly than I thought possible in my life, "Well, to tell you the truth, in all this confusion, I'd forgotten myself. So you have to ask yourself one question. Do you feel lucky? Well do you punk?"

With fear written all over his face, he ran the opposite direction leaving his buddy to lay in the middle of the road. I felt victorious! Except for Kairi who was feeling ashamed to have to be a part of that.

"Was that really all necessary?" Yuri asked as I buttoned back up my dress top.

I turned to him with an expressionless face, "Is it really necessary for you to have long hair?"

"Touché," Yuri replied with a silly smirk.

Suddenly the bell began sounding and we began to look around.

"What's that sound?" Rita asked.

"The alarm… Monsters are here," Karol answered.

Estelle began to panic a little, "Monsters? …Wait, is this shaking the monsters' footsteps…?"

"If so, they've brought quite an army," Yuri replied.

Karol however was calm, and prideful as he spoke, "Yeah, but don't worry. Even if there have been a lot of monsters around here lately… Our barrier here is strong, and it's never been broken before. And the guilds take care of the monsters outside the barrier…"

Though one flash from the barrier and poof, no more barrier. I just pouted, not happy that we were gonna have to fight all these things… well not all but still, I readied my gauntlets and Kairi her staff, her healing wand set to pull out whenever she'd need it.

"…Huh? Oh crap!" Karol shouted in shock.

"The barrier… disappeared…?" Estelle replied shocked as well.

"Baby boy, you had to jinx it!" I replied as I blinked dumbly at the now un-barriered sky.

Rita just shouted in a mix of anger and panic, "What the hell is going on?! The monsters are going to get inside!"

Yuri of course seethed, "Damn it, why do things like this always happen to me, no matter where I go?"

Rita just turned to him with a remark, "You gotta be cursed."

"But I thought you didn't believe in the supernatural, Rita? If we're tossing out theories, I want to throw possible divine retribution," I threw in as I wiggled my arms out like the Turtlez in Berseria and Zesteria.

Yuri gave both of us a silly grin, "…Maybe."

"Yuri, we have to go stop the monsters," Estelle said in a panic, which got all our attentions as we headed around to the south of town, fighting wave after wave of monsters, until we hit the front entrance where a hoard of monsters was gathered.

"This is crazy. Where are all these monsters coming from?" Yuri asked with a shout, almost expecting someone to tell him.

"Something isn't right…!" Karol shouted angrily.

Estelle looked around before asking, "Doesn't something seem different about the monsters as well?"

"If only those people weren't mixed in there, there's no houses from here, if those people could just get out of the way, Kairi could use Meteor Strike to possibly take them all out in one go," I replied with a pout that the easy option was a no go.

"Here they come!" Rita shouted as we prepared to face more waves.

"Cavalry!" Estelle casted on herself, before the battle began, casting Sharpness on Me, Repede, Karol, and Yuri, and casting Resist on Rita and Kairi. It wasn't anything too hard, just some Rhinossus, Basilisks, Beetles, and Crab Man, these guys were pancakes. The only issue was there was just too many to handle and innocent people scattered all about who needed help fleeing.

I huffed as I finished off the last Crab Man in that wave, a bit grossed out at it's guts popping all over the ground, hey, at least it didn't coat me.

"Don't let up, there's more coming!" I heard Yuri shout in my direction.

"Why are there so many!?" Estelle pouted, obviously a bit winded as well.

Rita just charged up a fireball as another wave started coming, "Dammit! It's just one right after the other!"

Repede ran to take on a few in the front lines as we awaited them to come closer as we were in a formation to try to prevent any more from entering. Yuri had center with Repede, Karol had left, I had right, Estelle provided healing, Rita would cast fireballs in the waves center to spread damage, and Kairi would target and take out the flying Beetles with firebolts or ground them with thunderbolts.

"Destruction Field!" Yuri shouted as he took out 4 Rhinossus in one go after wailing on them with Cerberus Strike.

"Ha! Lightning Wave!" Karol swing and took out a Basilisk.

I just finished up the Crab Man on my end and pouted, they all have such cool names for attacks… I don't even have one…

A firebolt took out the last Beetle in the wave, and Rita whined as another large wave approached, "Damn, there's no end to these things!"

I turned to peer at the woman who was supposed to trip to make sure Yuri'd make it in time… only, she didn't trip… Kairi had been doing such a good job on keeping the beetles at bay it wasn't an issue any further. I blinked dumbly before shaking my head, not like it was something absolutely 100% important.

Though fate can be a very fickle mistress, rather than target that women, another victim was in line.

Kairi shot a firebolt at an oncoming Beetle, but after so many swarms had come and perished, this one learned, and dodged last second, diving head first towards Kairi. She never had a chance to recover or cast as it slammed horn first into her gut, sending her flying into a vegetable stall.

"Kairi!" Estelle called out, wanting to rush to check on her, but stopping as she heard people crying in pain, calling for help.

"Damn…!" Yuri shouted as he took out the Rhinossus he was facing with an Azure Edge, quickly rushing to check on the small girl, "Can you stand?"

Kairi let out a few moans of pain before replying and trying to get up, only to have to use the rubble of the cart to stand up due to her wobbling legs, "I-I'm fine…"

(Geez Yuri, I know were in the middle of an invasion, but you could be a bit more considerate…) I thought as I stared at the two, looking around as I smashed through the monsters, wondering where the Don was.

I noticed Yuri turning to notice a group fleeing from some monsters as he took out a Beetle, having to act as a bodyguard for an injured Kairi, "Damn! I'm not gonna make it!"

It was then that a large man, with long white hair, red tattooed lines down his face, a white beard, and an open chested shirt with red tattooed lines on his chest, came out of nowhere, slicing up 3 monsters in one swing.

"Come on ya filthy maggots, I'll take the lot of ya! Come see how it feels ta get beat down by an old man!" He shouted as he charged into the fray… and my ovaries popped… I wasn't sure why…

I blinked dumbly at the Don as Yuri remarked, "That old guy is really going after them. Who the hell is he?"

Karol of course ran over cheering, "It's the Don! That's Don Whitehorse!"

And somehow Dark Horse by Katy Parry and Juicy J started playing in my head at hearing his name… weird.

"So that's him, huh?" Yuri replied in awe watching this 'old man' taking down monsters left and right without seemingly much effort.

At his appearance, the people began to rally, the people who were once fleeing were now standing up to fight, "It's the Don! The Don's here!"

"Let's kick this monster scum outta here! Defend the city!"

"Nobody messes with the Clouds of Dawn!"

Yeah that last one, I was hearing Clump from Donkey Kong Country, and I almost was expecting to see a walking chubby alligator with an army helmet on.

Estelle was busy healing the people who were injured, just as Flynn ran past, but she quickly turned, and a smile lit up her face as she called to him, "Flynn!"

As I noticed the blue and yellow blur run past, I turned to spot Caryn heading up, bows and arrows set, leading the troops…. Well more like they were following Flynn and Caryn was just faster than them.

"We've come to help subdue the monsters!" Flynn said to the Don as he ran forward.

The Don who was ahead of him apparently 'keeping an eye' on him wondering why a knight was here in Dahngrest, just raised his head in a shout, not even turning to look back at him, "Hold yer horses, knight-boy! We couldn't live with ourselves if we let the Knights do our dirty work. Now get the hell outta here!"

Flynn's eyes widened at the rude remark, he actually looked bothered by it big time (Maybe because in some ways the Don is like an older, bigger, more bossy version of Yuri), "Is this really the time for that?!"

"Each and every one of these people left the empire of their own free will and joined a guild!" The Don gave as an answer before chuckling for a second, "There ain't a soul in this town so spineless they'd go runnin' ta you guys fer help."

"But!"

That was all Flynn could get out before the Don set it to him straight with the one thing Flynn could at least understand, rules, "These're the rules of the life we've chosen. It's up to us to make sure those rules don't get broken."

Yuri just stared in awe as he helped hold Kairi up with one arm out as a clutch for her to grab onto as she was hunched over in pain still, "Holding to your beliefs no matter what's at stake… So that's what a real guild is like."

I then noticed Rita heading towards the small group so I decided to join in as Rita bossily demanded Karol to lead the way to the barrier blastia. Karol was pouty that he was having to leave watching 'The Don', but this was more important.

"Why didn't we think of that first honestly? Fix the barrier, not many people will get hurt," I replied making everyone stare at me with looks that said, 'why didn't we think of that either?'.

Estelle then healed up Kairi's gut, not sure if some ribs got injured but, it's the best we got so nothing much to be done, Kairi was at least grateful, "Thanks."

Yuri let his arm down making Kairi let go with a small frowning pout at the loss of connection.

Rita then stormed up to him, "You're coming too!"

"Guess that's my only option," Yuri replied with a nod.

"If you don't, I'd drag you by your hair anyway," I replied with a smirk making him grin silly and sass back, "Can't you choose a less painful option, like my sleeve?"

"Nope *pop*" I replied with a chuckle as we all began to run off chasing Karol. Well, as best we could, Kairi was straggling a bit behind possibly due to more internal damage than fatigue. That beetle must've at least cracked one rib… could be more.

* * *

-*- What's going on here? -*-

Yuri: The barrier failed right as the monsters appeared? What the hell is going on in this city?

Karol: I've lived here in Dahngrest my whole life, but I've never seen anything like this.

Rita: So why the hell do we have such terrible timing?!

Karol: How should I know?

*Everyone proceeds to stare at Yuri*

Yuri: What? You don't really think I'm cursed, do you?

Kairi: Umm…

Liana: We will need chicken bones, goose feet, some scorpion's blood, and a dead man's toe to concoct a remedy, oh and you'll also have to be slathered in it naked.

Yuri: ! I'll stick to being cursed!

* * *

As we made it to the blastia control center, I paled as Estelle checked on the man who was laying face down on the ground in a pool of his own blood, motionless. I knew he was dead… just never seen dead people back on Earth, nor a mutilated one… flashbacks from Zagi slicing that guy up at the castle filled my mind and I wanted to barf at the uprising in my unsettled stomach…

Estelle sat up, head down, her voice trembling in shock, sadness, and fear, "… We're too late. This is so horrible."

Kairi grabbed her arm and began to rub it, something she was used to doing when she felt helpless… she wasn't so bothered, she has witnessed death more times than not, but she could at least do something about it before… now, nothing… death stays permanent, as it's meant to be.

Our thoughts were cut off as Rita shouted and shoved between me and Karol in a mad dash to get to the top to check on the control panel for the blastia, "Outta the way!"

We all quickly prayed for the guy before running up the steps to check on Rita, Kairi taking her time walking of course. I turned to her with a raised eyebrow, "So how's it look doc? Will it make it?"

"Hmm," Rita said investigating it a bit more, "I might be able to do something with this."

Though some black hoods and red eyes… well technically, red lensed goggles, coming our way said otherwise.

"Rita, watch out! Behind you!" Estelle shouted as she ran forward with Yuri and Repede, placing themselves between Rita and the Red Eyes.

One Red Eye raised his blade in that X formation they do all the time, "We won't let you fix the barrier."

Rita then got into place just as Kairi got up the stairs, "What the hell! It's just one thing after another! I'm sick of this!"

That made me think, I know Yeager will work for anyone at the right price… but if the Red Eyes get leaked as the ones responsible for all this, won't the Red Eyes reputation go down and they'll lose business due to client loyalty being shattered? I mean I know Alexei wants to kinda take down the guilds since they stand as an 'obstacle', and Barbos wants to take over the Union, but both spell trouble… just what is Yeager really after? The Money? I know he funds that orphanage… but, losing clients doesn't sound like a solid business move.

A hard yank on my sleeve making me move towards the edge of the wall pulled me out of my overthinking as a blade flashed in front of me, Yuri giving me a harsh stare. All I could do was sweat drop and answer, "I really gotta stop thinking in the middle of an ambush…"

"Save the thinking for later, I can't keep having to save you every time," Yuri replied strictly. (Oof, told off by Yuri Lowell, but I could stand to let my questions go unanswered… although it drives me nuts!)

"Fine fine," I replied frustrated as I began to wrestle with one Red Eye… fighting with monsters was easy… fighting another human being who can think as logically as you can, was not easy at all. Though my conveniently stashed stun gun in my pocket made it easy to stun his arms and legs to give me an opening to begin what UFC fighters like to call 'ground and pound' (That sounds so dirty now that my immature piece of brain thinks about it…). He was a bloody mess on the ground for sure, no doubt I gave him a good few broken bones, his nose was crooked, so I probably broke that too, he'd be immobile for a while, but still alive at least.

"Ugh, if you can still move when you wake up… just quit and join a farm or something productive for the world, won't you?!" I said down to him… not sure why I was trying to talk with him… he was out of it, just groaning in pain here and there.

I turned slowly as I took in the silence, save for groans from this guy. I was worried, I know in the game we fight people NPCs, but the question was… were we actually killing them, or just unconscious? I let out a sigh of relief as I noticed the Red Eyes that were on the ground were just unconscious, albeit Yuri and Estelle did cut them a bit (Hey, if you fight with swords, blood is normal…), but they were still living. Guess any NPCs (Regardless of evil organization or not) we fight are just unconscious fighting… much like those thieves and sorceresses NPCs back near Torim and Nor harbor. Although… if those three guys I placed on barrels weren't saved, I technically murdered 3 people… That thought made me shiver since so far I had a kill free track record… although I may end up having one…

"Destroying a barrier… but that's…" Yuri began to say a bit frustrated staring down at these guys.

"We have to repair the blastia quickly!" Estelle butted in, before we noticed a few more Red Eyes at the bottom of the steps.

"After we take them out, man, and here I thought they'd make this easy," I replied as I ran down the steps with the others, Kairi and Repede remaining up top with Rita to make sure the 'unconscious' Red Eyes weren't faking it.

I jump kicked one of them in the head as I descended the stairs, so happy to have practiced that when I was goofing around on the college campus. Though the impact made my leg hurt… if I'm gonna use my legs as well… I need leg guards of some sort! I really should practice how Jude fights, he fights with gauntlets and kicks, maybe throw in some hidden blades and go Velvet mode too! Umm, minus the Therion hand…

"Ow, that's gonna hurt something fierce tomorrow!" I said as I shook out my leg. I seriously needed to lose a few pounds, though not like it can happen overnight…. (*sigh* For a civilization of people who use magic and high tech-ish technology, shouldn't they have a weight loss blastia or something?!)

Repede hopped on the guy that was heading my way, "Oh mah gawd! Doggo just saved me life! I'd ask for a hug… but I doubt you'd even let me." I pouted, I had a hard time getting animals to like me, it usually would take months for them to like me (Except birds… birds hate my very being…)

"Destruction!" Yuri shouted as he performed destruction field, my brain activated and began thinking of autofill's: Destruction field, Total Destruction, Absolute Destruction, Epic Destruction, Limitless Destruction, Grandma Destruction….

I then fell into a coughing fit at that last one (WHY THE HELL DID THAT COME TO MIND?! THAT'S BEYOND GROSS, I'VE NEVER EVEN SEARCHED THAT UP ON REDTUBE!... Oh wait…. It's one of the Nier Automata OST names, that's why… Ehehehe…).

"Liana! Are you okay?!" Estelle shouted in concern as I raised a hand and gave her a thumbs up once I got my breath back from that attack.

I got set to resume attacking only to find Yuri had taken care of them already. I blinked dumbly as he turned to me, "You okay there? I thought you'd faint any second from how badly you were coughing. Looks like we have these guys to thank for the barrier blastia failing on us."

"But why?" Estelle added in. I had to figure they did it because of Barbos or Ragou? I'm not sure who else would've hired them to screw with the barrier blastia or why.

"Just some really bad dirt in my throat," I replied with a smirk, "I'm just so glad your boss enough to have dealt with them so fast… I barely got one…"

"Well…" Yuri began until he clamped his mouth shut, I knew he was fixing to say something about my weight… I just know he is.

Silence just ensued, and I figured he'd keep quiet, so I just smiled and replied, "Good boy. You know when to keep your mouth shut~."

"Because I'd rather not have to face another one of your nightly escapades," Yuri smirked in response, at least until Flynn and Caryn ran up, then his smirk turned into a serious expression.

"Looks like you've got your hands full here," Flynn responded looking around at the mass of unconscious men.

"So, the Don's little lecture didn't stick?" Yuri lightly sassed, treating Flynn like a kid who was breaking the rules on not get a cookie from the cookie jar… That image made me laugh and wonder if that ever happened as those two grew up.

"I'm just doing what I can to help," Flynn replied a bit uptight, before his tone went back to its professional nature, "How's the repair of the barrier blastia going?"

"That'll depend on our genius mage, here," Yuri replied sassily still as he looked up at Rita. Looking at Flynn's pout, I had to wonder if Yuri was doing that on purpose.

Rita was in full focus mode, but she didn't fail to grab our attention, "…The core is still there. They just fiddled with your formula a bit and stopped it, didn't they? What the…? This is… an amplifier?! And this formula again… The same as they were using back on Ehmead Hill…"

Yuri looked in thought before turning to Flynn, "The barrier disappeared when the monsters attacked. It can't be a coincidence that they happened at the same time, can it?"

"…Probably not," Flynn replied, and I had to wonder if they were just playing it safe, or they really believed it 'might' have been coincidence.

"Well I'm not buying it… The fact that we have a dead blastia engineer and Red Eyes about keeping us from fixing the blastia, basically lead to the fact that this isn't 'coincidence'… if it is, it's an insult to that poor dead guy," I replied a bit angrily towards the end of my rant, "And now all this blastia talk has me thinking big time…"

That made me wonder… just why was Alexei having the formulas on the blastia's changed and amplified? Was it to power Heracles? And was it even Alexei at all or Barbos? I know Barbos stole all the cores… was it to experiment with different blastias to be made like the weather blastia at Ragou's Mansion, or trying to make this Ultimate Blastia? But wait! That fake Dein Nomos was in Ghasfarost! So, Alexei was behind Barbos, I knew… but…ugh I have no clue. So many questions, and I'd never have the answers…

The two just blinked at me before returning to their conversation. Yuri was the first to initiate, "So does your appearance here mean this is tied up with all the empire's problems?"

"I don't know. That's why I came here to check things out," Flynn responded back.

"…That goes there…" We heard coming from above which made us all turn to look up at Rita, "and this goes… here!"

Soon the barrier was back up in the sky and Estelle began to clap happily, "That's our Rita!"

(Don't you mean… 'Your' Rita…) I wanted to say that so much, but I kept my mouth shut.

Flynn seeing there wasn't anything he could do here, just turned to his men, "All right, time to clean up the monsters outside the barrier! The guilds won't be able to complain if we fight monsters outside the city."

"Yeah!" Caryn shouted enthusiastically, which earned her a pout form Flynn as he turned to her, "Caryn, please just return to the inn, we won't be long I promise."

Though she wasn't having it, her ears dropped, and she pouted, "But I want to help… staying at the inn is… boring."

I decided to help as I walked over and slung my arm around her shoulders, "Yeah, if she doesn't go, we'll hit the bar and get so drunk we could start a strip show in the center of town!"

Flynn's reaction was priceless! His face turned red, his tone was a mix of a scream, screech, and squeal, his eyes were wide, and he was practically trembling in a mix of fury and shock, "You can't go doing that! It's public nudity! That crime is punishable with prison time!"

I winked, "In the empire~. I bet here it's a little okay~."

He quickly grabbed Caryn's wrist and began to walk off with her, "You're coming with us, and sticking close!"

She turned around to give me a grin and a wave, leaving all of us to look on with wide eyes at the blonde knight's sudden retreat.

"Man, didn't think he'd get that uptight… He reminds me of an overprotective father," I said in a mix of shock and amusement.

"Isn't that a good thing though?" Kairi added in as she came down the steps with Repede's guide and Rita's aid.

I just shrugged as Yuri snapped out of his thoughts now that the group was assembled, "We'll leave the monsters to Flynn. Let's go to the Union and ask about Barbos."

Rita and Karol were the first to run off, leaving us older group members behind. (Sheesh, eager kids much? Especially Rita, what the fuck?!)

Estelle turned to Yuri as we watched the 'kids' run off in the distance, "You really trust Flynn, don't you?"

Then Yuri had to open his big fat mouth, "Only because there's no one else I can trust. That's how I look at it."

Kairi pouted and frowned big time, yet again he demonstrates that we're nothing… of course he could be playing it tsundere, but…

Even Estelle pouted and frowned after thinking on his words, "Yuri, I don't get you sometimes."

"No kidding. Seriously Yuri, you're begging me to paint you more festively, with acrylic paint not washable paint, and with a moostache (Mustache I know, but I love to call it a 'moo'stache XD), and a goatee, aren't you? Or would you rather I upped the bar?" I replied sourly with a pout.

Yuri looked at the three of us as Repede let out a whine at my comment, he had no one here to back him up, "Huh? What? What'd I say this time?"

"Hey, be grateful I'm not pouncing on you with the rage I feel now," I replied a bit angrily, though it wasn't so much 'rage' as it was just 'frustration', his view on the team wouldn't change much until we beat him up in the Quoi Woods… Oh my god, I'm looking forward to that SOOOOO MUCH!

Kairi kept silent but walked ahead with Repede's help, Estelle following her as she noticed Kairi's slow pace to check up on her. I merely shrugged, "Lowell… you got a lot to learn about women… and FYI… telling someone you don't trust them is the worst thing you can do to a person."

Before he could even respond I began to walk off following Estelle and Kairi, checking on her as she winced at Estelle's touch on her upper tummy.

"Gggnnn," Kairi got out in pain at the contact; Estelle merely frowned, "It seems I didn't heal you up deep enough before, I'm sorry."

"Geez, I bet you got a few broken ribs, one from the contact of that horn and two from those wooden carts," I got out, "You flew so far from one hit."

"I'm sorry," Kairi apologized sadly, no doubt Yuri's earlier words still were stinging, well, they were fresh.

"No need to apologize, it's not your fault you can't take hits," I pouted, now feeling like an ass, "If anything… I should've remembered that and taken point to guard you myself…"

Kairi just gave me a wide-eyed stare, well, more like an I was on drugs kinda stare.

"WHAT?! Is it really that weird for me to be concerned and notice my mistakes?!" I squealed in frustration, I hated being looked at in any way like 'OMG I had no idea you were like that'!

Kairi just giggled along with Estelle as Estelle chimed in, "No, you are the oldest. Plus, I've noticed that you act really tough and scary, but really deep down you're just as nice as Kairi is."

"…Having you tell me that makes me want to turn around and go jump off that bridge…" I replied with an eye twitch. I hate it when people try to evaluate me too… because it's embarrassing when they can see through me like a mirror, I rather be foggy and unreadable, my intentions never worn on my sleeve… unless I voice them.

The two continued to giggle and joke at my expense as our all-mighty long-haired bad-ass leader followed behind us. (So many hyphened words lolz XD).

* * *

-*- The City of Guilds, Dahngrest -*-

Estelle: Dahngrest has a very different atmosphere from the capital, doesn't it? The city seems so energetic. Everyone here is so full of life!

Karol: Of course! It's the largest guild city. Everyone lives according to their own principles. Do you like Dahngrest, Estelle?

Estelle: Yes, I think it's lovely.

Karol: What about you two, Kairi and Liana?

Liana: Well, it's not in the empire, and there aren't any places like it on Earth… maybe except Tortuga… without all the massive bar fights and drinking… *mutters* and possible orgies….

Kairi: It reminds me a little of some places I know, I once belonged to a guild back in Erri-Earth… until it disbanded…

Liana: Oh yeah, Kia's guild that she made… those were fun days…

Karol: ! R-Really?! Well… What about you, Yuri?

Yuri: Mm? I think I'd be a really great city if the barrier wasn't crapping out.

Karol: Yuri, will you please let that go?

Yuri: I'm kidding! The city's not bad at all. It even feels like the lower quarter.

* * *

As we go to the front of Union HQ, I took a bit to take in its size and appearance, it looked like the further back in you went, it had a giant column that may need an elevator to go up it, or it may not… I couldn't tell if it was actually a piece of the Union HQ or just a decoration behind it. Curse you game, not letting me get a better view!

"Hmm? Who are you all?" The guard stationed in front of the entrance asked us.

Yuri walked up to take charge of the conversation along with Karol besides him, "We need to talk to the Don about something. Help us out, could you?"

"It's a matter that concerns the five master guilds," Karol added in pretty importantly, after all that was the main reason we needed in.

The man gave us all a look over before responding, "I haven't seen you around here recently, although that one black-haired woman seems familiar… What guild do you belong to?"

Yuri now looked nervous, "Er, we don't belong to a guild, exactly."

The guy looked in thought for a second before replying, "…Unfortunately, the Don has left town in pursuit of the monsters."

I somehow got the image of the Don dressed like Stoic the Vast from How to Train Your Dragon saying, 'We're guilds, it's an occupational hazard!', and that made me almost want to burst into laughter and at the same time, it got me really hot and bothered.

"He went after the monsters?" Karol shouted in surprise.

The man nodded, "Yes, he plans on taking out the monster nests in one fell swoop."

(Yeah totally not a HTTYD reference there despite it not existing back in 2008-2009).

"I see…" Yuri replied in thought, "Thanks for the information."

"No worries," the guy said almost uncharacteristically; it almost made me fall over laughing.

Karol began to mutter to himself and scratched the back of his head as everyone passed by him, Yuri turning his head to listen in as well as I listened in too, "…If I went and helped them, I could prove myself to the Don…"

Baby boy could be worrisome indeed…

* * *

We all stopped a bit away from Union HQ to decide what to do next. Yuri just sighed as he spoke, "Oh well. Shall we go look for information in town?"

"…What? We're not going to help the Don?" Karol said in shock. (Calm your tits baby boy, the Don ain't going to die… yet…)

Yuri turned to him with a slight smirk, "So you know where the monster nests are, then?"

Karol then settled down, "Oh, good point…"

Rita then butted in to get us moving, "Since it seems like you won't be making progress anytime soon. I'm going to go check out Keiv Moc."

Karol of course pouted big time at that remark, "How selfish!"

That made me place both hands on my hips, head held high, and a strict motherly tone sprung forth, Mama Bear Mode activated, "And just how is that selfish? She's been issued to do so. Baby boy, I understand you have hero envy, but try to tone it down just a little bit, or you may end up disappointed one day."

"H-huh? Hero Envy?" Karol asked me with a confused look, not quite getting what I was on.

"I just want to get it out of the way as soon as possible," Rita continued, defending her reason to go.

"Wait. Then does that mean Estelle, Kairi, and Liana are going along with you?" Karol asked, trying to recall what happened at Heliord.

"Yes. I told Alexei I was going to go, after all…" Estelle remarked nervously as she peeked on Yuri.

"And me and Kairi chipped in!" I said raising my hand like an eager child.

Yuri looked around a bit uncomfortably, as though Flynn could come out to hit him at any moment if he remarked 'Have a safe trip'.

"Don't worry. We'll be fine between the four of us," Estelle said to Yuri to try to settle his unease down.

Yuri just sighed before turning to her, "Sorry, 'fraid not. If you got hurt or anything, Flynn would hunt me down and kill me."

"He technically would've hunted you down, had he noticed you didn't keep half of what he asked of you," I replied with a smirk recalling Flynn's message he left Alexei back in Heliord.

"Huh? What half?" Yuri asked curiously, but a bit panicked that he may have missed something.

"What did Flynn's message say?" I asked with a little mocking tone.

"To look after Estelle," Yuri replied simply, not even bothering to think anymore.

I blinked dumbly at him, he had completely forgotten the second half. I turned to Kairi who hadn't noticed and was healing up her ribs to be able to make the trip, seems like Yuri forgot Flynn asked him to look after Kairi as well, his programming must've kicked in, because after all, Estelle is everything to almost everyone in this game, we're just add ins…

I sighed deeply before turning away from him, a bit disappointed that he'd forgotten, "Never mind…" I had to wonder, how long would it be until he'd forget that Kairi and I are here? Would he leave off one day without us simply because he got back in line with the story without us? If that ever happened, what would we do? Those thoughts gave me an internal panic attack.

"You're going too, Yuri?" I heard Karol ask the older male.

"Well, we don't really have any good leads around town that we're following, anyway," Yuri answered the young boy.

"Then it's decided!" Estelle said enthusiastically, "Let's go to the forest of Keiv Moc."

And with that, we began onwards to Keiv Moc. Estelle kept smiling at Yuri the entire way while Yuri's gaze was fixed on her. I saw Kairi avoiding looking at them, these two seriously might be canon by the end of all this, despite it not being technically said if they were or not.

* * *

-*- Why was Flynn here? -*-

Karol: Come to think of it, why was Flynn in Dahngrest? The empire and the Union have never gotten along, so Knights don't show up here often.

Yuri: I doubt they're here to see the sights, either. It's gotta be tied up in one of their duties.

Estelle: Do you think Flynn's alright? Those guild people were being really mean to him.

Liana: … *mutters* Still as stupid as ever…

Yuri: Flynn's no delicate little flower. He can take some heat. Don't forget. Before he was a knight, he had to make it on the streets of the lower quarter.

Estelle: I hope you're right…

Liana: Of course he's right, BAKA! Just look at Yuri! He may be delightfully squishable, but he's as prickly as a cactus!

Yuri/Estelle: !

* * *

-*- Flynn's message -*-

Yuri: Say Liana.

Liana: What up, big Y?

Yuri: What was the other half of Flynn's message?

Liana: *fuming* Why do I have to remind you or tell you everything?! You're a big boy! Remember and figure it out! *leaves*

Yuri: ! Whoa. Didn't mean to set her off, sheesh.

Kairi: ….

* * *

-*- What's the Don Like? -*-

Estelle: What about the person who controls the Union? What is Don Whitehorse like?

Karol: In a word, big. Big voice, big body, big everything!

Liana: !

Yuri: We already know what he looks and sounds like. We saw him, remember?

Karol: Oh yeah, that's right. Well… He's a really cool person!

Yuri: Does that answer your question, Estelle?

Estelle: It's clear that Karol has a lot of respect for the Don… But that's the only thing that's clear…

Karol: He's so cool that it can't be expressed in words!

Liana: *mutters* Sounds like Emil fan-boying over Nier hehe…. So that's why!

Kairi: ! Ah, He may fit the criteria!

Estelle: Criteria?

Yuri: *sweat drop* We'll leave it at that, then…

* * *

-*- What Criteria? -*-

Estelle: Kairi? What criteria were you talking about earlier?

Kairi: Liana's criteria for guys she's interested in! Remember?

Liana: Hey! Don't go talking about me while I'm still here damnit!

Estelle: Oh! That's right! Back when we left Aspio, at camp! You said Liana only likes guys who are tall, beefy, takes no um… crap, and uh, oh, an affinity for children, and husband/father material.

Karol: Whoa! The Don fits it perfectly! That's crazy!

Liana: *flustered* Hold it! Hold it! Hold it! He hasn't hit all the materials yet! *mutters* Although back then my ovaries… *shouts* He isn't on the list yet!

Yuri: That you're even considering that old man is actually a bit disturbing…

* * *

Since we had left as soon as possible without a need for restocking on supplies, we headed to Keiv Moc, because despite the eternal afternoon sky of Dahngrest, it was technically still morning, maybe even noon time. It took us about 3 hours to get there through the forests outside Dahngrest, and halfway into our walk, the sky changed to normal; seems Dahngrest's red sky had a limit to how far it extended. Though once the sky changed… so did the weather, it began to rain almost immediately, as though there were a barrier keeping rain out of Dahngrest; good thing was we were under the canopy of the trees, so umbrellas weren't much necessary. Once we hit a grove of large, and I mean LARGE trees, and LARGE Wonderland-Sized Mushrooms I knew… we were in Keiv Moc!

"I had no idea trees this big existed…" Estelle said in amazement as she looked up at the canopy of trees.

Yuri had peered around too, "Yeah, but it doesn't exactly look healthy for them to be this overgrown."

Rita nodded, "It's just like you said, Karol. It's like what happened at Heliord when the blastia went berserk."

Karol scratched his head in embarrassment at being acknowledged, before grasping onto the handle of his weapon, a serious tone on his voice as he whispered, "Be careful… There's somebody here."

All of us took fighting stances, except for Yuri… he was so chill it should be illegal…

"Hey, what a coincidence!" A familiar voice came out from behind the bushes along with the rest of the purple old man.

Yuri was the first to comment as we all blinked dumbly at this guy, "What the hell are you doing in a place like this?"

Raven just threw his hands behind his head in a relaxed way before replying, "Ya know, out for a forest stroll, takin' in the nature…"

"Something smells fishy…" Karol replied, and I fidgeted (That may be me from earlier with the talk about the Don… please don't let it be me…).

"What? Where's my welcome?" Raven asked as he walked over.

I cracked my knuckles, "I'll be glad to provide that welcome for you personally if you'd like. We just need to step away from the youngster's eyes, ya know."

Rita crossed her arms, "You didn't think we'd honestly be glad to see you, right?"

Raven sighed, "Aw, ya don't mean that. I can come in handy ya know."

Karol's eyebrow raised as he watched Raven's every move, "… You're not thinking of coming with us, right?"

Raven just smiled silly, "Of course! It's lonely bein' out here all by my lonesome. What, no dice?"

I blinked dumbly at him as Kairi cowered behind me, kinda afraid he'll give her a 'hug'.

Rita just warned him angrily before walking off, "You'd better watch your back. If you try anything funny, your dead."

Raven then turned to us after staring wide-eyed at Rita, "Hey, ya don't think my story stinks that bad, do ya?"

Yuri just gave him an uncaring look, "Yeah, the stench is sort of coming off of you in waves."

Raven then began to sniff himself, "Really… !? *sniff*"

It was no Yuri's turn to warn him, "I can't take responsibility for what I'll do if you make any sudden moves. Don't forget that."

And with that we entered into Keiv Moc together, facing monsters here and there, without Kairi due to her 'magic with no blastia' ordeal, but Raven did nothing… guess he wont be fighting with us until he shows us he's 'worth keeping', which is weird, cause in the game you can move him into the party and he's fighting automatically… I keep forgetting this isn't entirely the game, it's a reality now…

* * *

-*- Really Really Fishy -*-

Rita: I know there's not much point in bringing it up again, but this guy's really fishy.

Karol: Yeah, how long's he planning to stick with us, anyways?

Estelle: Does he even have a good reason for being in Keiv Moc?

Yuri: You heard 'em, old man. Spit it out.

Raven: Huh? I'm gonna stick with ya guys as long as need be. And as fer my reasons, I thought I told ya – I'm on a mission of self-discovery!

Rita: You said you were 'out for a forest stroll!' 'Takin' in the nature!'

Raven: Oh, I did?

Yuri: If I had a memory that bad, I'd want to find myself, too.

Kairi: *giggles*

Liana: *giggles* Hahaha Damn, that was a good one Yuri!

Raven: There you go!

Karol: Really fishy. Really really really fishy.

* * *

We walked along the giant roots of the trees that were uplifted out of the ground, which is actually pretty amazingly sturdy. It's as sturdy as a solid giant tree trunk, so the nerves I had earlier on stepping on them with the entire group, dissipated. Though soon as we traveled along, we stopped and turned to Raven, it was 'worth' testing time!

"Aww, don't mind me. Do whatever you came to do," Raven spoke up after turning a bit away from all our intense gazes.

Estelle turned to Yuri, a tiny bit of a worried tone in her voice, "What should we do about him?"

Yuri thought for a second before thinking of what to do, "Do you know any tricks that'll convince us you're worth keeping around?"

Raven just scratched behind his ear, "Do I look like some kinda street magician ta you?"

"Well… yeah… purple robe that makes it seem like a breeze will send you flying, billowy puffy pants to match, the whole diamond pattern going on… it just screams, 'street performer'," I replied with a smirk.

Raven looked in thought scratching his chin before he pointed to Karol and beckoned him with a finger, "Hey, you. C'mere a second."

Karol looked around nervously to see if he meant someone else, "What? M-Me…?"

"Oh no, you're not using Baby Boy for anything!" I argued with him, my mama bear mode kicking in. I know Raven needs to prove himself, but he doesn't need Karol to do it, seriously.

"Aww, but I need a volunteer to help out," Raven kinda whined before thinking a bit more and turning to Kairi, "What about you sweetheart? Will ya help an old man out here?"

"Huh? Um…," Kairi said nervously, obviously wanting to help but at the same time not looking forward to being bug bait since she was avoiding fighting.

Yuri now got defensive, "Huh? What do you want with Kairi?"

"Easy, I just need a little help," Raven said scratching his ear again, this time a bit warier as Yuri was growing a bit impatient with the hold up.

Kairi nodded, "O-Ok, if it's just to help with demonstration…"

Remembrance was the emotion that quickly flashed in Yuri's eyes as he quickly grabbed Kairi's hand to stop her from going ahead with Raven, "Whoa hold up, you can't help him out."

Kairi's cheeks flared a deep red at the contact and she just turned around a bit flustered, "H-huh? W-Wh-Why not?"

Yuri just helplessly smiled, "Because I just remembered the rest of Flynn's message…"

Kairi turned away, a bit of a pout filling her features despite Yuri still gripping her hand, though a small smile came too after a bit.

"In that case, it's up to me~ Don't worry, I'll smash his face in a heartbeat if things go south," I replied with a salute.

"Darlin', your scary, ya know that?" Raven said with a huge sigh at not having the 'beautiful' assistant he wanted.

"Deal with it," I said plainly, not wanting to put much emotion into it… because I'm severely lacking SHADES! You CAN'T DO A 'DEAL WITH IT' MEME WITHOUT THE 'DEAL WITH IT' 8-BIT SHADES!

With that I followed him as he ran off, only for him to run back. A huge beetle flying right in my face, I stiffened up for a second, because… I HATE BUGS! Without any prompting, I smashed it with my gauntlets and watched it pop.

"Aww, ya killed it before I could spring into action!" Raven whined.

I turned to him with a silly smirk, "So let me guess… you just needed help with someone being a 'Damsel in Distress'? Someone who'd flail and freak out, or scream 'AH! Save me!'… something like that?"

Raven's head just fell, "It's not so appealing when ya explain it all aloud…"

I just smirked as I walked back over to him and patted his back firmly, "Well there's another one incoming. So, last chance, do what ya wanted to do, or else…"

Raven just sighed, "You can be so cruel darlin'," He fired an arrow up to the incoming beetle, it pierced through, but nothing happened.

Yuri gave him a bored look, he was just about done with Raven by now. Though Raven just rested his arms behind his head, "Should be any minute now…" That made Yuri raise an eyebrow.

The beetle then exploded into millions of pieces… if only my punches could disintegrate them that good… I was always having to dodge to avoid being covered in guts…

"It exploded from the inside!" Rita shouted as though her mind had been blown.

"What did you do?!" Estelle shouted in shock as well.

Raven then turned to Estelle to explain, "Ya just wait for 'em to let their guard down, give 'em a little poke and then… bam!"

And for some reason I started thinking about Emeril when he says 'Bam!' hehe.

"Jeez… I bet you're great at parties," Rita sassed with a bit hint of laughter holding back in her tone.

Estelle just smiled, "I suppose that was good enough."

"Really?" Yuri asked a bit surprised by Estelle's decision to include the old man.

Estelle turned to him, "Yes."

And Yuri gave in, "All right…"

Raven just looked giddy but not convinced, "Hey, ya mean I passed? I can stay?"

Karol looked incredulously at him, "A-are you kidding…?"

Yuri just smirked, "It'll be much easier to do things to him if we keep him nearby."

Raven now looked uneasy, "Whaddya mean 'things…?'"

Rita now looked in thought, "…Hadn't thought about that."

I now smirked devilishly, "YAS! It's not what I'm used to… but a little 'this' and a little 'that'… Yas queen, yas~."

Raven now turned to me with an unnerved face, "Okay, I just got a huge chill up my spine."

Estelle just smiled almost devilishly with a bow, "Well then, Mr. Raven, after you."

Raven just chuckled nervously, "Heh… right."

And with that, we went further into Keiv Moc… I didn't know how me and Kairi would hide the aer sickness from Raven as we go in.

* * *

Done with another one *giant sigh* getting to the middle hard area of college now… there's no slowing down from here on out… I mean for my classes not this fic Q-Q

Caryn: We're getting close to Barbos Time~

Oh shut up, don't spoil what I told you for everyone or else no more Flynn!

Caryn: Fiiinnneee!

Justin: Guess I'm not a main character in this story though.

Nah, you're too lazy, you're with Fortune's Market (Doesn't do much but sell us shet), and you didn't even really want to be in this fic, you just gave in cause I was pestering you…

Justin: True.

So of course you get the LEAST screen time than most side characters do in this fic :3

Caryn: Won't we be seeing him at the ghost ship since he's with Kaufman?

STOP SPOILING THINGS!... Although it's not really a spoiler… but still! No Spoiling XD

Next: Gigalarva, The Don, and hopefully Barbos in the Pub~


	25. 24: Giganto Bugs!

Permanent Note: If you aren't keeping up with the Drabbles, you'll be lost on some things as the chapters progress~ Keep up with that ;D

Please remember, ( ) parenthesis are MY thoughts, _italics are telepathic talk between me and Kairi_

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Tales of Vesperia, Justin, or Caryn. I DO have permission to use Justin and Caryn though. I OWN myself, Kairi, and my work in this fic. That is all….

* * *

As we continued into Keiv Moc, Karol, who was now up ahead, continued to stop in his tracks every so often to look around. Yuri was becoming impatient, "Karol, what are you doing? Let's hurry up and go."

Karol just turned a bit to him to stutter, "Y-yeah…," before freaking out at an incoming beetle that flew over our heads; swinging his brand new Heavy Maul +1 around, screaming, "Waaaaaaaaahhhhhh…! Get away! Don't touch me! Stay back!"

"Whoa, baby boy! Easy, easy! You're gonna hit one of us!" I got out as we moved a bit back from his swinging.

"Karol, Karol, it's okay!" Estelle tried to settle him down with a soothing voice, "It already flew away."

Karol then stopped and turned to us with a silly grin, "…Huh? Ha, ha ha ha, it did… Alright, let's keep moving."

As we continued on just a little bit further, Yuri turned to us all with a whisper, "…Captain Karol seems a little different than usual, doesn't he?"

"You think?" Rita responded uninterested, "He seems like his usual spaced-out kid self to me."

Yuri shook his head, "No, something's different about him. The Karol I knew before would've been peeing his pants or running for his life if something like that happened."

Estelle looked in surprise, "Oh… now that you mention it, I think you're right."

"Well, duh," I replied gaining their attention, "He's obviously got a phobia of bugs, only his phobia doesn't trigger him to run, more like he's at the stage where he's trying to get over it by slightly facing it but he's still shit scared of them."

"Nicely put," Yuri said with a silly smirk.

"Hey," I replied pointing my finger at him accusingly, "This coming from the guy who earned a slap for messing with my own trauma…"

"Yeah… hoping not to ever do that again…" Yuri said unconsciously rubbing his cheek where I had slapped him back in Caer Bocram.

Though the newest group edition didn't know about the rules on not to mess with Baby Boy without my permission as Raven ran up to the group, cupped both hands over his mouth, and shouted towards Karol, "Wah! Bugs, a giant swarm of them! Watch out!"

Karol froze up on the spot and began to freak out again, despite no bugs in sight at all, "Waah, stay away, stay away…!"

Rita of course beat me to the first punch as she turned around with a huge ass can of bug spray and began to spray Raven's face as he coughed up a storm, "Blech! Hey! Wh-wh-what did you do that for… Agh, my eyes…"

Everyone except for Karol turned to the old man as Rita just smirked devilishly, "I was just giving you a little something to keep away the giant swarms of bugs!"

"*hack**cough* …I thought I was gonna die!" Raven got out as he regained his breath.

I smiled devilishly as well, "And since you're new here, I might as well let you in on at least two of my rules…"

I walked over and chopped him hard on the head, smirking as he squatted down holding his head, "Ow! Hey, that hurt!"

As he looked up, I held out 1 finger, "Rule 1… no one messes with Baby Boy like that while I'm around or else you'll get hurt," I raised up two fingers now in a piece sign, "Rule 2… Don't mess with people's traumas or else you'll get hurt…"

Yuri placed his hand on his hip with his silly grin, "I can personally vouch for that one…"

Karol stopped flailing and then turned to the group surrounding Raven and began to piece together the puzzle, "Ah, I don't believe it…"

Estelle turned to Karol with concerned eyes, "Karol… You're really afraid of bugs, aren't you?"

Karol now looked like he would panic, "Wh-who me? N-not at all…!"

I gushed now causing Kairi to sweat drop, "Aww, he's trying to be a big boy, it's so cute~"

Rita then took on a big sister vibe as she held out the can of bug spray, "It's okay, Karol. You don't have to pretend. Here, take this. Aspio-brand insect spray, the best to keep the bugs away!"

Karol looked surprised at her kind gesture as he took the can from her cautiously, "Oh, uh…y-you don't mind…?"

I blinked dumbly but kept my mouth shut… I wanted this Rita version to travel with us FOREVER!

Rita just crossed her arms, "Not at all. Just make sure not to spray it near any people. It can sting!"

"Oh, and not near Repede either, you can hurt his nose!" Kairi added in quickly as Repede barked to seemingly confirm her words. I keep forgetting he's there, that doggo is more a ninja than Yuri himself.

Raven's head just dropped, "So I'm not a person anymore, am I… Yeesh…"

"Come on, let's go," Rita said as she now took the lead as we walked onward, Raven sulking behind all of us.

* * *

-*- Scary Things -*-

Rita: Wow, Karol, when you freak out, you really freak out!

Karol: Come on, everyone has a few things they're afraid of, don't they?!

Liana: Yeah, like me and Kairi, you guys already know 1 of them.

Rita: Well, not me.

Raven: Now, now, genius mage, its not nice to lie. Even ol' Raven's got his own fears.

Yuri: What are you afraid of , old man?

Raven: I'm afraid of pretty girls!

Karol: What?!

Liana: Oh, then Kairi must terrify you to the core~.

Raven: You're a bit more terrifyin' there darlin'…

Liana: Well… if you don't want to get more scared… STOP CALLING ME DARLING!

Raven: !

Yuri: Yeah, yeah… Rita, it's better to come clean. That way we can help you out.

Rita: Like anyone needs your help! I can take care of myself just fine!

Raven: Her type always has some of the worst fears…

Rita: Yeah, whatever.

* * *

As we kept walking forward, I froze, this seemed to be going XBOX 360 version so far, but the monster before us was definitely PS3 Exclusive, the Green Menace! I blinked dumbly, there was NO WAY we were gonna be able to beat it without at least Kairi's back up healing…and she's taking a vacation from fighting since Raven's around…

It was A LOT bigger than I thought it would be, it put the Egg Bear to shame… it definitely earned a status as a 'Giganto' Monster.

"This is definitely no regular monster," Yuri said as he gazed up at it. He quickly turned to all of us, "Sometimes it's better to run when it gets too much."

I blinked dumbly, "…We aren't really thinking of taking this thing on… right?!"

Karol used a Magic Lens as it began to move closer to us, "It's the Green Menace! It's weak to Fire, and resistant to Wind and Earth!"

"Fire, huh? Sounds easy enough," Rita said sassily as she began to charge up fire balls.

Estelle ran out to provide healing as Kairi peaked around, unsure of what to do as everyone but the two of us entered into battle.

"This is nuts, we haven't even started the Giganto quest from Rich yet," I whispered to Kairi who looked on with concern written all over her face.

"Does it matter? We need to help out… but…" Kairi began to panic watching everyone getting hurt and stunned by the many shockwave moves it could use; also since it was large, the radius for it's attacks was pretty huge…

"We can't let Raven in on being from Earth… he'll tell Alexei… but they do need our help… what do we do?" I whispered to Kairi, slowly beginning to panic myself as Estelle went down and Repede used a life bottle on her.

"… I don't know…" Kairi said almost in desperation… her eyes filling with hurt as she watched Yuri get slashed with it's claws and fly a good couple of yards away.

I closed my eyes for a few moments, trying to think of what to do… best thing they could do now was run… but the determination in their eyes told me they weren't going to run… except Baby Boy and Raven, they look like they want out, but they can't find a way out.

Yuri fell down and didn't get up, he must've been taken down, and Kairi's head shook violently, "Yuri! I don't care anymore! I need to help!"

I tried to grab her to stop her but she rushed down towards the long-haired swordsman with a life bottle in hand, "Fuck… guess I'm in…"

I ran to try to distract it away from Kairi who had now caught his attention. I punched it pretty hard, but it's HP is enormous, well over 60k but less than 65k and I knew, it was making my strikes nothing more than mosquito bites as I kept trying to read its moves and avoid being hit.

"Oh! How do I use this?!" Kairi panicked as I watched her opened up the life bottle, Yuri's head resting on her lap.

"Either pour it on him or make him drink it!" Raven shouted as he heard her plee, spamming Rain as Rita kept up Fireballs.

"O-Ok, thanks," Kairi shouted back as she lifted his head, pried open his lips, and poured it in his mouth, not comfortable with dousing him in the liquid.

Yuri woke up with a groan, the life bottle doesn't heal all hp after all, "Ugh, man that smarts…" though once he noticed the small girl, his expression turned serious, "Kairi?! What are you doing down here?!"

"I-I want to he-," Kairi began until Yuri butted in.

"Just stay back, you can't fight remember?!" Yuri argued with her, he knew she was hiding her ability to use magic without a blastia from Raven, and he was doing what he could to cover that up.

"B-But I…" Kairi argued back desperately, she looked about ready to cry. I couldn't help but frown, out of all 4 of us that came to Terca Lumireis… she was the one with magic… and she was the one with more to hide than all of us… it was sad to see her want to help, only to realize she can't or else she'd expose us to danger.

Yuri just sighed as he gave her a soft pat on her head, "Just go back up the roots, we're going to fight just a bit longer. If it gets rough, we'll run first chance we get… okay?"

She nodded weakly, her lips trembling at the thought of having to run away, but she didn't want Yuri to get angry. She got up and ran towards the roots and we began to focus on attacking… well they did, I was punching here and there, but thinking.

As it jumped up and basically squashed Raven and Karol, I just decided to go with his weakness and the best/cheapest option, "Figured it! Keep him busy away from Estelle and Rita! Rita! Use Overlimit whenever you can and go nuts with the fireballs!"

"Hmph, you don't have to tell me twice!" Rita shouted as she went into Overlimit and began spamming Fireball.

Yuri and I rushed him to try to keep his focus, only for him to grab both of us, "OH SHIT!"

It headbutted us about 4 times before slashing at us with a swing of it's claws at least 2 times, I lost count as I fell over hissing in pain. Never in my life had I been cut so deeply open… well except on my left palm when I was little, but the air and few drops of rain on the wounds made me want to cry out. Yuri looked unconscious at least until Raven threw a life bottle on Yuri, drenching him in the liquid that didn't soak into his clothes, then he hopped up back into action.

I saw Raven come my way and he smushed gels into my wounds, "Ggghh…" I winced in pain for a few moments until it vanished, and the wounds were more so closed, "I always thought you had to eat them…"

"You could do that too, but for open wounds that deep, using them as styptic works just as well," Raven answered as he fired some more arrows, covering me from it's advance while I stood up.

When it went into Overlimit I turned to Yuri, my voice and body shaking, "Y-Yuri… I'm not one to back down… but…this guy is…"

Yuri turned to see Kairi wanting to come down the roots to help again, and he nodded at me in agreement, there would be no Giganto trophy today, "Everyone, pull back, we need to get out of here! It's too powerful!"

Karol and Repede were the first to run in the direction of the roots, Rita still firing fireballs as Estelle ran past her to keep the Green Menace from following them. Yuri, Raven and I followed after to rejoin Kairi atop the roots, watching as the Green Menace tried to get on the roots, but turned around as though it didn't want to even try walking on them.

I slumped onto my knees, "Thank goodness it can't follow us up here…"

Estelle slumped down as well, "It was powerful, I wasn't sure any of us were going to make it…"

Yuri just caught his breath, "Lets take a quick break before we head on out, okay?"

"Deal!" I said with a thumbs up, happy to catch my breath and receive first aid from Estelle after the ass kicking we received.

* * *

Once our breath and strength were back, we all continued deeper into Keiv Moc; at least until Rita had a thought, "Hey, you two."

All of stopped and turned to her, not knowing who she meant, at least until she eyed me and Kairi, "You two, Kairi and Liana, try to be careful."

Kairi turned to her with confusion all over her face, "Huh? We are being careful, why?"

Rita waved her finger in her 'matter of factly way' as she spoke, "These botanical abnormalities are being caused by the aer here. There's a good chance that they are pockets of excess aer all over the place. And with as sensitive to it as you two are, just stay alert and let us know if you start to feel off."

"Aww, Rita cares about us~" I teased, no longer capable of hiding my nature for the sake of having her be more caring a bit longer.

"H-huh?! I-I do not!" Rita argued back, her cheeks tinging a little pink as she turned away, arms crossed.

Kairi smiled whole heartedly, happy to have someone's concern, "Don't worry Rita, I promise to speak up the minute I feel even the tiniest bit nauseous."

Rita's cheeks just turned an even brighter pink as she turned away from Kairi to avoid anyone seeing (A little too late for that).

Raven then added in, "Too much aer can have negative effects on people and blastia. Takin' in a lotta aer causes yer metabolism ta speed up, and that'll make ya more tired than usual."

When he mentioned metabolism, everyone turned to our own mini blackhole for a stomach, Kairi. That may explain why she's hungrier than a normal person, she is the one taking in aer, though channeling it through a weapon to fight without a blastia.

Though Rita then turned to Raven, "Wow, you know more than I thought."

Raven then looked surprised, "Eh? That's just common sense!"

Rita looked in thought, "I'd expect people to know about aer's effect on the human body… But I didn't think it was common knowledge that blastia can become supersaturated with aer if used improperly."

That made me tilt my head, just when did Raven imply 'that'? All he said that was taking in too much blastia can affect a person's metabolism, not about improper use, more so saturation.

Raven rested his heads behind his head, "Nah, anyone who deals with bodhi blastia should know all about it!"

Karol then pouted, "Actually, I'd never heard about it until Rita mentioned it."

Raven then sighed, "Ya gotta quit slackin' and hit the books, kid!"

Though that made Yuri think for a little while as we continued onward.

* * *

"Just how is this a grasshopper?!" I argued as we fought some bugs, the grasshopper and mantis debate was now ON, "It's like a mutated praying mantis than a grasshopper, come on!"

"First off, I'm not sure what a 'praying mantis' is, but the lens says it's a grasshopper!" Karol pouted back.

"I guess they're called grasshoppers, because y'know… sacred and all…" Kairi replied lowly.

"Ugh, I give up on modern life…" I replied as I killed the 'grasshopper'.

Once the area was cleared, Raven then turned to us, "I'm surprised none of ya ladies is runnin' and screamin'. Bugs ya know and all."

I clamped my hands on my hips, "Now that's stereotyping, I'm not afraid of 'most' bugs… but I hate their guts more than I fear them, so I prefer to kill them than run and cry for someone to handle them!"

"Oh, so you're a really tough girl then, huh," Raven smirked a bit.

"Yep! Any bug! I'll kill it! … Except for Butterflies, Slugs, and Snails, those can pass, I love them~" I said cheerfully, "But anything else, I'm not afraid!"

"E-E-Except for that!" Kairi whimpered loudly, turning pale as she turned to point at the tree behind me.

I turned around and I paled. Here in Texas, there's only one bug that can make my heart rate go down to absolute ZERO and cry in fear (Worldwide it's an actual praying mantis…but only seen them in videos and pictures, and Vesperia's version in the 'grasshopper' is tolerable…)… and no it's not the giant red-headed centipede! Or even a Tarantula or Brown Recluse Spider!

Due to the mutations of the aer, it was 6 feet long I'd wager, the antennas were even longer, and it flew from one tree to the other away from us, making my blood turn to the negative degrees, Kairi was as pale as I was when we turned away from the tree and made a mad dash for it, screaming profanities and bloody murder regardless of the team shouting our names.

And that ladies and gentlemen…was the common household cockroach…the version that can fly…

* * *

By the time Kairi and I had stopped running, we had reached the main area where the Gigalarva should spawn, catching our breath.

"Fuck that shit! There's no way in hell I'm taking one of 'those' on! You couldn't pay me all the gald in the world to do it!" I panted out, shivering madly. I had one too many bad memories of those suckers… and a super-sized one was anything but fun!

Kairi nodded in agreement catching her breath from the mad dash. Though one thing remained as we regained a good amount of breath… a bit of nausea.

I looked over at the Aer Krene, "Ugh, no wonder I feel a bit sick… not looking forward to the Weasand of Cados."

"Or when Estelle's powers throw us off the sword stair…" Kairi added in.

I raised a finger, "For that, we need to stick tight to Yuri…"

"Unlike right now…" Kairi chuckled as we realized we ran so fast and far in, odds are the others won't be here until later.

I gave her an awkward smile as I realized we'd be waiting on the others… and I had passed many chest opportunities… (oh well, I'll grab them on the way back).

"Guess we just sit and wait," I said as I sat on a medium-sized root, pushing aside the nausea, good thing was the aer wasn't out of control, so it was manageable, so long as we didn't get any closer… which reminded me… was Duke hiding about or would he just stroll in on us? Oh well, we'll find out.

Kairi joined me as we sat and waited on the others, keeping our eyes around for any monsters… or GIGANTO Roaches!

* * *

"Did you all get that?!" Yuri asked seriously, his anger wafting off him in waves.

Kairi bowed deeply, almost plummeting to the floor to kneel and bow, "We're so very sorry! It… It won't happen again…"

I rolled my eyes at that last part as she squirmed to get those words out, she knows full well if we see another one we'd end up taking off running regardless; Yuri's lectures were so long winded…, "Sorry about that we don't like those things 'father', next time… we'll cling to you and squish you to death with our combined cleavage instead."

I smirked devilishly as Raven's and Kairi's face turned into a tomato, unable to reply to that option.

Yuri just let out a huge sigh, he was already learning not to get roped into my little games and to remain a bit calmer, "If you understand that much, then next time just close your eyes or something and let us deal with it."

I pouted, "Aww not even a tinge of pink of your cheeks, no fun."

Rita then turned to where the light in this area seemed to be coming from, walking towards it along with the group leaving us to keep our distance. Her eyes lit up as she stared at the pretty warm lights emitting from the aer krene, "This is the same phenomenon we saw at Heliord. The aer is weaker than it was there, but there's no mistaking it…"

A loud thump cause Kairi to lightly scream and run towards the group, as the Gigalarva landed beside her a good 10 feet away, and I scrambled on my feet to follow, only to stop a bit away… getting any closer near the aer krene would knock me out.

The others decided to run up closer seeing as me and Kairi couldn't get closer. Estelle observing the monster shouted the first thing that came to mind, "That monster looks just like the ones that attacked Dahngrest!"

I turned to her with a stupid look, "I don't recall there being any giant scorpions on the attack at Dahngrest…"

Yuri just unsheathed his sword, "Here it comes! Kairi, stay back!"

Seriously…. How does he keep getting his scabbard back?

"What's up with this forest?" Raven whined as he got set with his arrows.

"Is… the aer causing this?" Rita asked to no one in particular as the Gigalarva made its way towards us.

"I think so, would explain the overgrown bugs…" I replied as I avoided its tail spearing me like a shishkabob, "Though this guys not as bad as I figured he be."

"I'm more surprised ya' ain't running doll," Raven said in surprise as he set a serpent mine on the ground near it's legs.

"Ok…. Don't ever call me that again…. Second, it's just an overgrown scorpion, nothing so unholy as that vile insect earlier…" I replied as I began to give it a few good punches.

Raven just looked about as he used Rain, "I can't believe there's a place like this in the forest."

Karol looked in thought, "This must be why the town kept getting attacked by monsters."

Estelle kept back, seems like she's beginning to learn from all my shouting that she should focus on healing, buffs, and detoxing us, "I-Is there any way to quiet the monsters?"

I tilted my head a little, "Quiet them? I don't hear a peep coming from them though…"

"We have to get them before they get us," Yuri replied to Estelle.

"Yeah, or we might not make it back alive…" Karol said a bit fearfully.

I nodded as I dodged its tail again, "There ya go baby boy! All the more reason to smash it's guts out! He's bound to go down sooner or later."

Karol just stopped and stared at me dumbly, "Liana… you can be scary… Gah!" And then he got hit by the swish of the tail…

"The lady's right. So it's a little tough, lets just get it over with!" Raven said agreeing with me.

"I hope we only have to kill this one," Rita whined as she kept her distance casting fireball.

I turned to her after dodging its tail again hearing the others shout in pain, "Rita… please don't jinx us…"

"Stay sharp," Yuri said rather seriously to me, and I turned to him with a huge pout, Estelle chipping in, "We'll lose our lives if we aren't careful."

My cheeks puffed up and I felt a vein tick, "Oh come on, why is it only me?! This coming from the bunch that doesn't know how to DODGE!" I squatted down low to avoid the tail once more watching everyone get hit, "SEE!"

"All my heart!" Raven shouted as he shot out a bouquet arte, then used a fatal strike on it.

I took the opportunity to go give it a bit of a pounding before it got up and shot up green goo that hit the ground and sizzled. I blinked dumbly at the green spot as it dissolved and felt myself blanch, "This thing shoots acid rain! Fuck that shit!"

I began to get out the way as Raven took over with an Overlimit, using Just Like Dancing and some Burst Artes. I turned to Kairi and she was wit Repede, who was playing bodyguard for her, but she looked like she wanted in fiercely. This would be over with so much faster with 8 party members instead of 6; hell, in the game you're only allowed 4 members, so this was going pretty fast.

Gigalarva was moving towards the pond, and I knew what that meant, healing. I tried rushing it while it was busy drinking away water, and I noticed the green glow of it healing before it went into over limit which tosses me back a good ways.

"This thing isn't going down…." Yuri complained a bit frustrated that it somehow got back its second wind.

"Because that MoFo is healing itself! We have to get it to stop somehow!" I shouted as I got back up to charged it with Yuri and Karol, though bad idea since other than me…. No one knew to either jump or squat to dodge that tail. Even his little trampling shockwaves weren't so painful compared to the Green Menace's shockwaves.

I noticed it healing again and decided… we need that secret mission trophy… not only because it's a trophy… but because it may get this fucker to stop healing!

"Say Raven!" I shouted as he finished using his Glimmer of Heaven.

"What?" He shouted back.

"You're doing an awesome job fighting and I think I know how to get this guy to stop healing itself! Think you can set up one of those mine things you do on the pond where it's tail is about to go after it's injured enough to go heal itself? That may deter it from healing itself! ...I'm using healing itself too much…" I shouted as I dodged its Tail Spear move.

"Ah, gotcha, I'll set up Serpent mine right as soon as ya make it want to heal itself!" Raven answered as he drew back towards the pond.

"So now, all we gotta do it beat this guy down so he goes to that pond then," Yuri replied with a devious smirk, "Works for me."

"Full power!" Karol shouted as if he were leading this charge.

"You heard baby boy! Charge!" I shouted, as we rushed him, dealing as much damage as we could, Estelle even coming up and fighting too.

The beauty about this being reality compared to the game…. Multiple top level Overlimits and Fatal Strikes! In the game you needed to have that one item in JP to be able to share Overlimit with the party and most they did was drain 1 gauge from the bar… but here… not needed at all; anyone could do it at level 4 overlimit or more! Even a scorpion can do it!

Didn't take long and he was fleeing towards the pond, and Raven quickly set a serpent mine seconds before it's tail made contact… and it's upper tail blew off!

"I was trying to deter…. But that works too!" I shouted victoriously before shouting again, "Let's take it out before it somehow regrows another tail due to our bad luck, Yuri's curse, or a lack of logic!"

Yuri turned to me with wide eyes as everyone basically all agreed, "You guys seriously think I'm cursed, huh…"

"You can't blame us…" I said with a shrug as we basically wailed on the Gigalarva until it exploded and dissolved into nothingness… which is pretty ecofriendly, but it won't feed the other predators.

"I was so surprised," Estelle said as she watched it disappear.

"Now the town's safe," Karol said holding his chin up high.

"We're lucky! We're happy! Woo-hoo-hoo!" Raven cheered, making me sweat drop.

"You weren't too bad out there old man… but it was kinda a lame fight," I replied as I set my hands behind my head to stretch a bit.

"All for you Darlin'," He replied with a silly grin.

"I told you not to… ugh… fine, whatever," I replied sighing about the nickname… don't get me wrong, I'm over the moon that Raven can call me it… just not when he's a lying purple weasel…

"You can't relax yet," Yuri said towards me a bit seriously.

Rita turned to me, "The aer is still out of control."

I looked at her with a confused look, and I looked over at Kairi to see she was still okay before responding, "If it's out of control… wouldn't me and Kairi be… y'know unconscious by now?"

Rita turned to stare near the Aer Krene where Kairi and Repede were kinda near, "The trees, the monsters, it's got to be the aer that's causing this."

"There's more of 'em!" Karol shouted seriously as 4 fell out of the trees to surround us.

"See! Rita, I told you not to jinx us!" I said with a whine which made Rita give me a frustrated pout as if to say, 'I didn't mean for it to happen'!

Repede quickly dragged Kairi behind a large root to hide as they were both out of the Gigalarva's sight and circle.

Yuri, Raven, and I backed up in the center while it seems like everyone was focused at least on 1 Gigalarva.

"Ah, so this is the ends, huh?" Raven began to speak dramatically, "Farewell, all my dear fans the world over."

"I'll make sure your gravestone reads 'Here lies the world's biggest sap'," Yuri replied so casually it made me giggle.

Raven turned his head a bit to reply with a disappointed look, "When pretty ladies are involved, you're supposed ta say stuff like, 'We can make it through this together.'"

I looked at Raven with an odd look, "Just who do ya think Yuri is? He'd never say anything like that… but if I had to be the one to pick the words on his gravestone… it's going to be 'Here lies the cursed He-She guy that never could decide whether he had balls or not.'"

Yuri then turned to me with wide eyes, "Huh?!"

"Ya can be pretty harsh with words little lady," Raven said amused.

"Scary thing is… she'll do it… Now we definitely need to get out of this…" Yuri said a bit peeved and at the same time highly mortified at how serious I was appearing.

And as if on cue, out of the trees came a Disney princess version of Tarzan… errr I mean DUKE! And with one aloft held wave of his magical sword, the monsters vanished…

Everyone looked to him in awe as I pouted, "I call hacks!"

Kairi and Repede slowly got up from behind the roots to join the group when things seemed safe.

Silence ensued before Estelle spoke up, "Who is he…?"

"Duke…" Raven spoke seriously as he answered Estelle.

Though Duke wasn't having anything to do with us as he turned to leave.

"Wait!" Rita shouted making him stop and turn to her, "What is that sword?! Let me see!"

She ran over to investigate Dein Nomos for a bit before looking up at him to ask in sheer amazement, "How did you do that back there? You like, sliced through the aer but… but that's impossible…"

Duke just stared down at her, "What good would that knowledge do you?"

I trembled, his Nier voice was turning me on again…(not good… he's the final boss Liana! Final Boss! You can't be turned on when you gotta beat the shit out of him in the end!)

"Well...I mean... With something like that, we might be able to stop the blastia from going berserk... We saw that happen to a blastia. The aer was out of control. We couldn't do anything...," Rita answered, hoping it was good enough to get the answer too.

"This was only a distortion. It is a natural occurrence," Duke answered.

Rita looked in thought, "…Distortion?"

Estelle walked over and bowed, "Um, thank you so much for helping us."

Duke stared at her before looking at… (me and Kairi?) before responding, "Do not go near the aer krene."

Estelle raised her head in confusion and Kairi stared in surprise, both simultaneously saying the exact same thing, "Huh…?"

(How did he-? I mean does he-? He can't know we're not from Terca Lumireis, no way…)

"What do you mean, aer krene? This place?" Rita asked curiously.

Duke answered again, "Aer krene are the springs from which all aer in the world comes."

Rita turned to the krene, back to thinking again, "Springs of aer…"

It was Yuri's turn to ask questions as he walked forward, surprised filling his tone, "Who are you…?", until it returned to normal, "This isn't the kind of place you just go for a walk."

Duke just seemed to silently scoff before Yuri continued, "We would've been dead without your help, though. Thanks."

Duke just turned to leave as Rita mumbled to herself about the Rizomata Formula, sighing in frustration before turning to us all, "I can't tell anything from checking things out here. I have to see some others."

Karol looked in thought before asking, "Hey, didn't that guy earlier say these were all over the world?"

"Yeah, he did," Raven replied, but I blinked dumbly before kicking in, "Were you off in space, baby boy? He wasn't here earlier, he was here a few moments ago… you get hit too many times by the tail?"

"Huh? No, I'm fine," Karol replied backing up, worried I'd smother him again.

"We won't know anything solid until we find them and study them," Rita nodded and replied.

Estelle turned to Rita and asked, "So I guess we're finished looking into things here?"

Yuri nodded, "Yeah, let's get back to Dahngrest and meet with the Don. It's starting to get a bit dark, already."

"But not before I raid that chest I see over there!" I said as I pointed to a treasure chest I spotted near a tree. I made a mad dash for it an opened it faster than Naruto can down a bowl of Ramen, "….Why? How?"

I stared dumbly at the item in the chest…this was NOT supposed to be here…it's supposed to be in Egothor Forest!

"Huh? How what?" Karol asked curiously as he walked over to see, his eyes widening as well, "Huh…?! How?!"

Now everyone was curious as I took the item from the chest and lifted it up to show everyone with dumb eyes, "Who made this, and why is it Yuri, and why is it here?"

I was holding up Yuri's plushy… the Overdrive Warrior/Man….

"It's… it's a doll of… Yuri?" Estelle asked curiously while Kairi looked about ready to squeal in deep fangirl want.

"Huh? Who'd make a doll of 'him'?" Rita asked pointing at Yuri, as if to state how odd this was.

"No kidding, why make a doll of some strange guy, why not make a doll of this cutie right here?" Raven said pointing to Kairi who flushed a bit pink.

Repede barked and took the doll from me as he set it on his back, he looked thrilled as we all stared at him in wonder… just what was this dog thinking.

Yuri just blinked dumbly throughout the entire ordeal before finding some words, "I'm not sure who made it… but it seems Repede likes it…"

"Guess that makes it officially his. No complaints, right?" I asked as Repede barked and growled as if to say, 'Try and take it from me bro!'

Everyone shook their heads, though Kairi looked a bit pouty, if anyone wanted that plush so badly… it was her.

"Well, that was… weird. Let's just go," Yuri replied as we all nodded and headed out.

* * *

-*- Yuri's Doll -*-

Karol: Isn't it weird that there's a doll of Yuri, all the way out here?

Estelle: Yes. Who could've made it and why? And why leave it here?

Liana: Hmmm.

Yuri: Lets drop the subject, I don't think we'll find any answers sticking around here.

Liana: Oh! Maybe some guy made it to be like a voodoo doll to lead Yuri here to catch him to turn him into the knights for the reward… but then we got pardoned so it was now useless.

Raven: Though in that case, wouldn't they have been better off makin' one of ya darlin'? You were at 50,000 gald…

Liana: Oh right… but in any case, it worked, Yuri's here… AH! Maybe the guy thinks Yuri is a girl or just swings that way, and just wanted the doll to lure him here to catch him for his bizarre sexual fantasies!

Raven: Now that's scandalous dear~.

Yuri: ! … I said let's drop the subject already, sheesh!

* * *

-*- Lead on, Old Man -*-

Karol: Man… I wish we could get out of here already…

Raven: Don't get so flustered, boy. We'll get outta here nice and easy, ya'll see.

Rita: Not everyone leads a carefree life of unicorns and rainbows like you, you know!

Raven: Life is a lot like this forest… Winding paths, intertwinin'. Ahh, this forest is really relaxin'.

Liana: I always thought life was like a boat…. !

Yuri: C'mon, let's leave our philosopher behind and get a move on.

Liana: *fuming* WHICH PHILOSOPHER DO YOU MEAN?!

Yuri: ! Not you, geez!

Liana: *pouts* Better not be me, Lowell!

Raven: Listen ta what I got ta say!

Yuri: So you mean we're lost in the forest of life?

Raven: Oh ho, so ya get what I'm sayin'…?

Estelle: Before we find our way out of the forest of life, we need to find our way out of this one…

Liana: True… *begins to hum Life is like a boat from the 1st Bleach ending*

*everyone except Raven starts leaving*

Raven: I'll lead. I have found direction in this life more times than—Hey, wait! I'm not done yet…!

* * *

We were half way to the exit, Rita continually mumbled to herself about the aer and 'distortion' the entire way.

"You sure mumble to yourself a lot, don't you?" Raven said towards Rita, though she was more caught up in thought to notice him talking.

I continually kept humming 'Life is like a boat', though I was thinking… when Raven speaks… sometimes he speaks normally… but other times it's like me… with ya, ta, 'em, nothin', more modernish speech…. It made me wonder…. Just which one of those speech patterns was the real old man and which was Schwann… and could it possibly be Damuron in there too?

"You've been humming that for a while. I don't think we've heard that one, what's it called, Liana?" Estelle asked curiously.

That snapped me out of my thoughts, "Hm? Life is like a boat… I got it stuck in my head when the old man started talking about how life was like the forest…"

"How does it go?" Estelle asked with sparkling eyes, absolutely thrilled at the thought of a new song.

I blinked at her in silence before deadpanning, "…No…"

"Huh? Why not?" Karol asked as he and Estelle pouted.

(Because I don't want a certain purple fuck to find out about the Japanese language and begin questioning on it…)

"…Just… no…" I replied dead serious.

Kairi giggled, "Because there's a lot of words in it, that Liana would never get out her mouth."

I turned to her with a huge pout (That's reason #2….).

Just then the ground began to shake violently, making me shout, "Holy shit! It's an Earthquake! Stampede! I dunno!"

"Ack, what?! Another monster attack?" Karol shouted out trying to keep standing.

"That too!" I shouted adding that to the options.

Yuri turned and ran to Kairi. He pulled her in his arms and down, making her squeak due to how close he was holding her, and for suddenly being yanked down to her knees as he covered her head with his to hide her from sight. The others ducked down as well, Raven helping Yuri cover Kairi for some reason. I had the privilege of hiding baby boy as he didn't want to kneel down out of shock at the sight of a massive hoard of monsters incoming.

"Karol, Kairi, keep your head down!" Yuri whispered loudly as the monsters began to run past.

Kairi just looked like she'd faint in Yuri's embrace at any moment, while baby boy squirmed under the weight of my chest on his head holding him down.

Once the rumbling stopped we all got up…well Yuri and Raven had to help Kairi stand since she was now in a bit of a daze thanks to Yuri. Estelle peaked up and gasped, "It's… it's them…"

Karol quickly got out of under my chest to peak and shouted at who we saw, "Don…!"

We all rushed over to find men sprawled on the ground in pain, the Don was the only one not so badly hurt… hell he was still ready and raring to go.

"…You all do something?" the Don asked as he turned to us.

Yuri looked curious but confused, "Do something? What do you mean?"

"Those savage monsters turned docile as pups and ran off! What did you do?" The Don asked as he stood up.

Estelle turned to Yuri covering her mouth in surprise, "… Yuri, it must be because we stopped the flow of aer…"

I turned to her with a stupid look, "We? I don't recall 'us', stopping the aer… it was that guy…"

Though Karol just raised his head in pride as he spoke to the Don, "The monsters turned tame because we stopped the runaway aer!"

(Once again… not us!)

"Runaway aer? Hmmm…" the Don said as he looked in thought.

"Hey old man," Rita spoke up, she could care less if he was the top guy in the Union, she wanted answers, "Do you know something!?"

"Well my old friend, Belius, used to say something about it," he replied casually.

Karol looked surprised, "…So it's true that Don and Belius are friends…"

"Who is Belius?" Rita asked Karol curiously.

"The Duce who rules the coliseum of Nordopolica," Karol answered.

"Nordopolica…" Rita repeated as she went back into thought.

"And what's with that runaway aer?" the Don asked curiously, waiting for an answer. An answer that Karol was all too happy to give as he ran over to brag to the Don, "It was really amazing! More and more really strong monsters kept on coming, but we—"

The Don turned to him and used a very loud, commanding, yet firm tone, "Boy, those are the sort of things you keep to yourself."

"What…?" Karol said in both confusion and surprise.

"You don't do deeds like that so other people will notice. You do them so that you can protect your town and your friends," the Don lectured. (He was helping Karol in his own way….and he was a super grandfather to Harry growing up….yep…there goes my heart…)

Karol's head lowered in shame, "I-I'm sorry…"

Estelle ran past, asking the Don for permission only after she knelt near the downed men, "Excuse me, could I see him for a moment?"

"What?" The Don asked her, like she was stupid to even ask permission to help his men.

The familiar ring of her healing artes chimed and the men thanked her as she healed them up.

The Don then turned to the are we were hiding at earlier with a squint as he was peering through the leaves, "…Hmm? Ain't that Raven over there? Quit hidin', you!"

Raven just sighed as he walked over towards us and the Don.

"Our man ain't givin' you trouble, is he?" the Don asked us.

"Whaddya mean, 'trouble?' The reason the monsters got tame was our doing, mine especially!" Raven pouted big time. I wanted to open my mouth, but with how hot my cheeks were getting….nothing intelligent would leave my mouth if I tried anyways.

"Huh?!" Karol said in shock, "Raven's a member of Altosk?!"

Yuri was a bit wide-eyed too, "Somehow that seems to be the case."

As quick as lightning the Don slammed his sword hilt into Raven's gut making him wince and cry in pain, "Ouch, gramps, cut that out!" He backed away quickly to avoid another hit.

"Shut up, you!" The Don shouted angrily.

"Don Whitehorse," Yuri spoke up to get his attention.

"What is it?" The Don asked as Yuri walked forward to meet him and talk, face to face.

"I know we've only just met, but I have something I need to talk to you about. I'm Yuri. Yuri Lowell."

"Yuri, huh? You must be the leader then?" the Don replied staring him up and down… my yaoi brain actually activated for a bit there…

"Um, Don? You still with us?" Raven asked a bit concerned… I was getting concerned… but then I recalled the Don fight in the PS3 version… so that may be what's happening…

"There's been so few lively youngsters lately I was starting to get bored. If you've got something to say, I'll listen. In exchange, keep me busy for a minute," The Don replied with a smirk.

Raven just sighed, "Geez, of all times for his bad habit to show itself…"

"What's that?" Rita asked him a bit curiously.

"If he sees some skill in ya, he immediately wants to test it," Raven answered casually.

Karol looked taken aback, "W-what do you mean 'test'!?"

"Your physical strength!" Raven said almost silly like, but with all seriousness that's what it's about…

"That's right. Let an old man indulge in his hobby, just a bit," The Don said a bit more merrily, happy at the thought of getting a good fight… tough balls… he'll take down Yuri in no time….

"No no no no no, I won't do it," Raven whined and complained frantically as he ran off and away from the Don.

"Ah, hey, he ran away!" Rita shouted a bit frustrated.

"Isn't that a good thing?" I replied making her look in thought before nodding at me.

Yuri just smirked as he unsheathed his swords though, "Sounds good to me. You don't get the chance to take on the man who stands on top of all the guilds every day."

(How did he get that scabbard back… it has to be Repede helping him…. But I never see it…)

The Don just laughed and smirked in return, "Hahha! That's what I want to hear! Come at me!"

The Don swung his sword and a huge black shadow trailed out…like a Getsuga Tenshou in bankai form! Not only could he do that…. But he knew Tiger Blade! My spine got tingles with Symphonia nostalgia…

In about a minute… Yuri was down, it took him a while to get up, but he managed to stand again and panted heavily, "Damn, I'm not finished yet!"

The Don set down his blade, "That's enough! It's going to turn into a real fight if we keep going. It's been a while since I've had that much fun. All right, I'll listen to you now."

Yuri set down his sword, prepared to speak when a guy approached the Don in a hurry, "Don, sorry to interrupt."

He whispered to the Don and I was too busy having mental orgasms to try to listen in as I slumped myself over a root, using it to hold myself up when I began to tremble really badly… I had fallen… fallen for Don Whitehorse… a huge side character whose death was necessary to promote character development for both Karol and Raven…and for Yuri…

"Ah, I see. All right you dogs! Time to head out! Sorry 'bout this, but something's come up. We've gotta return to Dahngrest. If ya come by the Union you'll have my ear first chance I get. Hope that's okay," The Don turned to Yuri with his explanation for having to leave.

Yuri just remained calm and unfazed by the development, "If I have your word, that's fine by me."

The Don just chuckled a bit before responding, "Hmph, you're not nervous at all to talk to me. You all would make a good addition to our guild."

Though with that said, the Don took off… after secretly recruiting Yuri…yet not sticking around to receive an answer.

"Guild, huh," Yuri loudly mumbled in thought as Karol walked up beside him, "We're going to make one, right?"

Yuri looked down to give him a light smile, like a big brother, little brother moment, "We'll see."

Raven walked over with a grin, "So, what do you think? Y'all finally get a taste of how awesome I am?"

Karol just gave him a dumb look, "I sure didn't notice you being too awesome out there!"

Raven just shrugged, "Always so quick to criticize!"

Kairi clapped her hands together to get his attention, "Ah, b-but you were great back with that giant monster…"

"Oh yeah, you were like at boss level epicness back there," I smirked big time though still slumped on the root, "Though that still doesn't make me comfortable with the fishiness…"

"Ah… I knew I could count on my two lovely ladies to compliment me," Raven said almost tearfully, throwing his arms out as if we'd run to hug him causing Kairi to back up as well as me.

"Still not getting that hug, old man…" I said with a deadpan stare as he slumped in defeat.

Yuri just spoke up loud to stop us from teasing and fooling around further, "All right, I'd like to go back to Dahngrest to meet with the Don and keep looking for Barbos."

Estelle turned to Rita who was currently too busy in thought, "Rita, once Yuri's done with his business, we should go back to report… Rita?"

Rita looked up startled out of her thoughts as Estelle walked over to her, "…Oh, what was that?"

Estelle repeated herself, "Once Yuri's done, we should go back to report to Alexei… Is something the matter?"

Rita just shook her head before answering, "N-no, it's nothing. Come on, lets go back… What's up with Liana?"

Everyone seemed to turn to me as I covered my face to hide the intense red that was now caking it, "Ugh… g-give me a minute…"

Estelle was the first to react and run over to check me out, "Are you okay? Do you not feel well? Where does it hurt?"

I turned away from her, my ears as red as a tomato as the words left my mouth shakily, "G-Give me a few minutes…. I just fell in love back there…"

One word echoed throughout the forest from everyone in the group other than the old man who had no clue what was happening at all, "WHAT?!"

* * *

-*- Fishier and Fishier -*-

Karol: I never would have thought Raven was a member of Altosk.

Yuri: It looked like he and the Don were close. The old man probably has a pretty important job.

Karol: Y-Yeah… It's hard to believe, but he's probably one of Altosk's top officers. The fact that he can leave town on guild business shows that the Don trusts him.

Rita: That old man…

Estelle: You can't judge a book by its cover, Rita

Liana: Learn that one from your own mistakes? Good girl, you're learning.

Estelle: Umm…

Yuri: Fishier and fishier…

* * *

-*- The Don -*-

Yuri: Don Whitehorse… I can see how a man like that could rise to the top of the Union. He's pretty impressive.

Estelle: I'm just relieved he's the sort of person who's willing to listen. I didn't think he'd give us a chance, considering that he's never met us before.

Karol: That's what makes the Don so great! I told you, right? Man, he's so cool!

Rita: Do you run his fan club or something?

Liana: *sparkle eyes* If you do, can I join?

Rita: !

* * *

-*- Don Whitehorse -*-

Yuri: Never thought I'd lose to that old man.

Karol: You thought you'd win against the Don? No way! Haven't you heard the stories? There's no way you could top him!

Raven: That's right. Ya should be grateful you've still got yer pep. Just hearin' about the Don's fights is enough to put me on edge.

Yuri: Why's that?

Raven: They say the Don really lets loose in a fight. Mosta the youngsters who get into a scruff with him end up bedridden for more than a few days.

Yuri: Come on, the guy's not that rough.

Liana: Says the guy who was on his ass within a minute…

Yuri: !

Raven: No, really. Yer lucky he was in a good mood today.

Karol: I heard when he was young he took out a hundred jagged-shelled tortoise monsters single-handedly!

Raven: There's a story he once managed to repair Dahngrest's barrier blastia all by himself using only a chain and his own strength!

Liana: …You two trying to turn me on or something…?

Raven/Karol: !

Yuri: He sounds like a real monster… All the same, I'll beat him some day. Just wait.

Karol: Sounds like he still thinks he can win…

Raven: Guess when it comes down to it, he can't stand the idea of losing.

Liana: So Yuri's a sore loser! What else is new?

Yuri/Karol/Raven: !

* * *

Done with another one… didn't reach the pub though… I got something fun planned for the next chapter, though I got a HUGE today in 3 hours...

Caryn: Still not taking my advice to map out all the skits?

There's 6 hours+ worth of skits in the PS3 version according to a video I downloaded that has ALL the skits and ALL the translations (At least until the PS4 version comes out and those skits have been renamed something else…)… that's way too many skits to have to go through and plan where to place and how without forgetting one (Which is like impossible for me!)! I'm still adding in skits for that extra drabble coming up soon that were missed out from being added to that first Skit drabble vault!

Caryn: Just trying to help… in any case… my baby's going to jail next chapter DX!

Stop spoiling! Geez! Well as the readers can find out, we're getting to Barbos by tomorrow, not sure if we can make it to Ghasfarost, but we'll try… will we defeat Barbos next time… odds are, NO…

Caryn: Just hurry along so you can make me a Flynn drabble XP

Patience bitch XD!

Next Time: Barbos! And Ghasfarost (Maybe)…


	26. 25: Love 'and' War (Not 'is' :D )

Permanent Note: If you aren't keeping up with the Drabbles, you'll be lost on some things as the chapters progress~ Keep up with that ;D

Please remember, ( ) parenthesis are MY thoughts, _italics are telepathic talk between me and Kairi_

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Tales of Vesperia, Justin, or Caryn. I DO have permission to use Justin and Caryn though. I OWN myself, Kairi, and my work in this fic. That is all….

* * *

"So, let's see if I'm getting' this straight," Raven said with an awkward tone as we all headed back to Dahngrest, "Ya fell in love?"

"Yuh huh…" I said shakily, a bit embarrassed to have to be interrogated by Raven, and for falling for the Don.

"With the Don?" He asked again, his tone still awkward, yet a bit more serious.

"Yuh huh…" I replied again, my face turning into a tomato again at the mention of the Don's name.

"…" Raven remained silent before blowing up, "WHAT?!"

"Shut up already, old man," Rita got out, getting frustrated with the sudden shouting.

"B-But! With that old man?! Come on! I'd figure you'd go for someone younger, like Yuri!" Raven shouted, earning a harsh glare from Yuri.

"Yuri isn't Liana's type though," Estelle replied as if to answer an unasked question.

"Well, she's got pretty unique tastes then I'd say-Bwah!" Raven got up before I punched him in the throat to shut him up.

"Don't start with me, lets just get back so we can talk to the Don and then hit the hay, it's gotta be about dinner time already according to my stomach," I replied as my tummy rumbled, Kairi's joining in, Estelle's following soon after.

Yuri's stomach lightly rumbled as well as he spoke up, "She's right, lets just get there, do what we need to do, then grab a bite to eat."

Raven just followed behind, keeping distance from me, though he looked like he wanted to talk to Kairi the rest of the way though.

* * *

Once we got into the Union building, a large yellow item behind the right pillar caught my attention. I ran to go slap it, but before my hand could make contact I was surrounded by a puff of smoke as a terrified voice spoke, "AH! Please no more violent unveils! I'll give you some gifts if you can, so, please spare me!"

I huffed disappointed as the smoke dissipated to reveal the Wonder Chef, "Ch, taking away my fun. So, what recipe have you got for us this time?"

"Fu fu fu. Only the pinnacle of vegetable soups out there! It's Minestrone Soup!" He practically sang, and I shrugged… I didn't hate Minestrone soup… but I didn't like it either... because… despite being Hispanic… I greatly disliked beans… Though it was considered healthy… and I did tell Karol not to be picky… ugh, I hate it when karma comes back to bite me like a bitch!

"Oh, whoopie," I tried to sound enthused, but it was severely lacking, though it returned to normal after I recalled his previous remark, "So, what gifts ya gonna give me to stop smacking you every time I find you?"

He took a prideful stance before replying rather snarkily, "Fu fu fu, I've done my research, and I have the perfect gift! Tada!"

He handed me a large brown bag and set another bag down that had the 3 sets of ingredients. I peered in and pulled up….a Big Red and a KIT KAT BAR! Holy Shit! There was Green Tea Pocky, Chocolate Pocky, Strawberry Pocky, Cocosette bars, Reese cups, Gummy Sharks, pop-rock filled chocolates, 1 bag of Hot Cheetos, 3 XXExtra Hot Cheeto bags, and 1 bag of Gardettos…

"I hope that suffices as a gift~ Gotta gueeehhhh!" The Wonder Chef got out before I began to strangle him and hold him up off the ground despite me being a bit shorter.

"L-Liana!" Estelle shouted in concern as I strangled the man.

"Where did you get these?" I hissed venomously, when he didn't respond I began to get louder, "TELL ME NOW!"

"Ghhh I would… but… airrrrr~" He whined as he slapped my wrist to let me know he needed air.

I huffed out in frustration before dropping him and shoving him into the wall, "Talk… Now!"

"Whoa, Liana, ease up," Yuri said seriously as he walked closer, stopping when he saw how pissed I was.

The Wonder Chef coughed a bit before replying, "Well… I get all my ingredients from this really popular chain store called Walmart. It's almost in every city in a place called Ear-"

I slapped my hand on his mouth realizing he was about to spill about Earth, hoping Raven wasn't getting any ideas from that, "We're taking this into that room... the walls have ears…" I pointed to the room where the cells were, I didn't want Raven to hear any more of this.

"Eh? B-But I really have to go though," He whined, shutting up when my glare returned.

"If you don't comply… I will 'whip' you so hard that you'll never be able to achieve 'stiff peaks', ever again…" I replied viciously, though his reaction was anything but fear.

His face turned bright red as he slapped his hands on his cheeks to gush, "Ah~, Oh no~, I can't be in soft peak stage for the rest of my life~, please whisk me gently~."

I began to drag him to the room, "Then shut up, and just answer what I want to know," though I turned to the others; mainly because I couldn't just single Raven out, and I didn't want him hearing; so I spoke harshly, "If any of you try to listen in… I'll make you cry like the day you were born…"

Everyone just backed off as I took him and my bag down into the room a good way away from the door, but not quite at the cells, "So, now that they're out of ear shot. Speak."

"As I was saying," the Wonder Chef said, regaining his pep, "I get them from Walmart in a place called Earth. You are from there are you not Miss Banda?"

I blinked dumbly at him, "How'd you know my name?"

He wagged his finger, "Do not underestimate the Kingdom of the Wonder Chefs!"

"There's a KINGDOM?!" I replied stupefied at the notion of there being a place like Zaphias… but everywhere you looked it was Wonder Chefs… sounds like a tasty town to be honest.

"Any who, through extensive connections and research, I found your Facebook profile~" He replied so cheerfully I fell over at how ridiculous this was, "From there I read through old posts, located your email, gained access to your computers and learned of your favorite meals and snacks in all the world~!"

"Then you should know… I'm not big on Minestrone…" I replied dumbly as I began to pick myself up.

"But sadly that's what I was scheduled to deliver here, so nothing I can do about that. If that answers your question then-" he continued until I held out a hand.

"I know you said you get them from Walmart… what I mean is HOW do you get them? Do you pay? Do you have a shopper's card that says 'Wonder Chef'?! Just HOW?!" I replied stupidly at the thought of the Wonder Chef going through a line at Walmart and paying for ingredients, and imagining if Fans saw him, they'd just think he was a cosplayer…

"Time is frozen on that end… so I just take them," he replied simply, "They're so wealthy, it's not like they couldn't afford to let me have some ingredients or snacks!"

I blinked dumbly, "That may explain why my store kept having meetings on theft… Ah! By any chance… can you give me and my friends a ride back to Earth if I can gather them? Come to think of it, how do you get there?"

He looked at me dumbly now, "I can't take you there, it's strictly prohibited! And the method is a secret passed down from Wonder Chef to Wonder Chef! It's a Wonder Chef trade secret, only for Wonder Chefs in the Wonder Chef Society at the Wonder Chef Kingdom!"

I slumped, figures it'd be a secret… or a ridiculous explanation of one.

"If that's all I shall take my leave!" He said happily as I slumped in defeat, "Sure go on ahead…"

Be then he snickered a bit making me give him an odd look, "What?"

He went silent for a while, then lifted his head to reveal a HUGE nosebleed down his face as he gave me a thumbs up, "I do so appreciate those R-18 base arts of Miss Kairi you did so long ago, very much!"

"HUH!" I said with wide eyes before he poofed off…I blinked dumbly before responding, "…Okay… so now I got a fan… for R-18 Kairi art… Kairi's so gonna kill me if she finds that stash *sweat drop*…"

I let out a huge sigh to get out all the left-over frustration at not procuring a ride home and turned to get back to the group, slamming open the door with a killer's smile, "All done~! He went home~!"

* * *

"But the Don said we could see him!" Karol pouted as we had been stopped by some guards at the door to that assembly area.

"We'll have to verify that with him first though. Please just be patient a little longer," One guard said as one guy had gone in to explain we wanted to see him.

"In the meantime, have a drink," another guy said as he offered us some beer and sake.

"We kinda need to be sober, so we'll pass," Yuri replied seriously.

I took the sake though, "Screw it, a little won't hurt!"

"B-but L-Liana!" Kairi shouted as I downed the masu cup of sake (I'd tried beer, wine, whiskey, rum, tequila, and scotch… like all hell I want to try sake!)

I licked my lips, it was better than I thought, "Pretty good~"

Raven smiled down at me, "Oh~ So our lady here's a drinker? That's nice. Mind if I join in?"

"B-But Liana!" Kairi whined as I grabbed the tokkuri bottle and began to share with Raven.

I turned to her, "Don't 'But' me. You know I'm good with holding my alcohol. I drank that huge ass Grande Bellini back in Johnny Carino's and I still could maneuver, walk, and do advanced math afterwards."

"D-Demo…" Kairi muttered as we drank, the others sweat dropping, not bothering to say anything further since we were both the 'adults' here.

I figured it'd be a piece of cake… but no matter how strong the will… alcohol will find a way….

"The Don will see you now," the guy returned, "We apologize for the hold up!"

I began to hiccup a little at how drunk I was getting, but I could at least still walk and think…. To some extent… Raven seemed a bit tipsy, but better than me, he'd been drinking for far longer than I have…. And a lot more than I could either.

As we entered, the first thing we noticed… was Flynn and Caryn in the meeting room….

"So you've come back, have ya?" The Don said, making me tingle all over, my brain was disappearing a little as I walked ahead a bit to get a better view of him, and I found myself licking my licks again, silently purring at the mere sight of him.

"…Yuri," Flynn said in surprise.

"Hey Lian~" Caryn said happily as I raised my hand and shouted happily, "Oss!"

The Don looked taken aback though, "What, you two know each other?"

Raven walked over to be besides the Don though as Flynn returned attention to the Don and replied, "Yes, we're old friends…"

"Ya don't say," The Don replied, fuck I was getting hotter and hotter….

"I see you know Yuri as well," Flynn said almost mockingly.

The Don just scoffed, "We crossed paths during the assault on the city."

Before he could ask for our business I walked up all wobbly like Jack Sparrow, Kairi behind me as my brain just was turning to mush, "Hey! *hic* You're like… Super fine, seriously! *hic* God, I love you~! *hic* So can I get to a point? *hic* Wait… what point was I going to make?"

I saw the figure of Kairi looking like she'd panic, and Caryn just hunched over… which I had to guess she was laughing at me, but the fuck did I care! I just wanted this man meat in front of me!

"Hmmm, aren't you the woman that got wanted by the empire for 50,000 gald?" The Don asked interestingly.

"*hic* Them pussies took that off! *hic* What I want to talk about… is… *hic*….What did I want to say?" I said turning to Kairi who looked dumb founded.

"I thought Liana could holder her liquor?! We drink all the time together! Just how?!" Caryn said in shock at how drunk I was for once.

"But she's never had sake!" Kairi argued with a pout as she stuck to me to keep me out of trouble.

I then smirked as I began to say words to a song rather than sing them, "*hic* Here's the situation, been to ever nation, nobody's ever made me feel the way that you do. *hic* You know my motivation, given my *hic* reputation… *hic* please excuse me I don't mean to be rude," I then pointed at him, "*hic* But tonight I'm fucking you! *hic*"

He just threw his head back with a huge laugh and I could hear Caryn laughing as Kairi tried to put my hand down from pointing at him.

I frowned a little but kept staring at him seriously, "*hic* I mean it! I'll take it all off right here if doing it *hic* in public is your thing! *hic*"

"L-Liana!" Kairi panicked as she tried holding me down to keep me from stripping; some part of me tried to imagine the reactions of the people behind me, and I couldn't think of it for once… because I'm wasted! Raven was priceless though, his eyes looked like they'd pop out of his skull.

"Hahaha! You remind me of my late wife back when she was your age; always a firecracker, ready to pop at any moment. Especially those eyes," The Don said in amusement before becoming serious, "But I'm an old man, you should be gunning for a younger man like Yuri back there."

"*hic* No habla inglés!" I shouted rapidly, making Kairi slap her hand on my mouth as I saw the blur of Caryn fall to the floor, laughing her ass off.

"C-Caryn, please help~" I heard Kairi plea, then I saw Caryn get up, still chuckling and she held my other arm, "Seriously Lian' wait till drink nights to drink…"

"We're gonna need some water over here!" the Don shouted before returning his gaze to Yuri and Flynn, "Now then, what business did ya have?"

"Uh…" I heard Flynn say, probably in a shocked state still at my little outburst.

Yuri walked forward just as some guy came in with a jug of water and a cup on a tray to offer to the Don who pointed towards me. Soon I was gulping down cup after cup of water as the events played out.

"We came to ask you about a man named Barbos of the Blood Alliance. It looks like he's the one behind the recent string of stolen blastia cores," Yuri got out after he took notice of me drinking water, so I wouldn't butt in.

Flynn turned away from Yuri, the man looked like he needed a drink, he looked so pitiful as he spoke, "I see, so Barbos is tied up in your problem as well."

"…You have a problem with him, too?" Yuri asked a little bit surprised.

Flynn just nodded before going all 'knight' mode, "We have come to ask that the Union relinquish all ties with the Blood Alliance. Other guilds have begun to follow Barbos' example, abusing blastia in other areas and disrupting the order of our society. If we can count on your assistance, I feel that together we should move to put an end to the Blood Alliance."

The Don looked in thought before responding, "…Barbos. Heh he's been testing the limits of my patience lately. Looks like it's time to remind that brute how a proper guild behaves."

Flynn continued on, he was just so stiff… he looked like a tree branch than a person, I need more water, "A clash between the guilds and the empire was avoided the other day, largely due to your intervention. However, if Barbos is left unattended, the relations between our two states may yet again be torn apart."

"That's not gonna be fun for anybody," Don just said straight away after hearing that.

"The time for stopping Barbos is now," Flynn finished up for the main part of his request.

The Don hunched over, seriousness in his eyes as he spoke up, "Since we'd be cooperatin' with ya, I assume we'd be on equal standing with the empire in this."

"Yes, sir," Flynn answered quickly.

A large kinda smirkish grin made its way onto the Don's face, and I almost orgasmed, "Humph. If that's the case, a united front with the empire might not be such a bad idea."

"Then…" Flynn asked rather than say as he gauged the Don's reaction.

"Yeah," the Don replied looking happier than before, "We'll deal with this together."

(He sounds like a father who's so proud of his son… my ovaries can't take anymore!)

The Don then turned to the guy on his right and was a bit too happy he almost laughed when saying it, "Hey. Send a message to Belius. Tell Belius that Nordopolica's gonna help us."

The messenger just nodded and ran off as Karol watched him go, muttering lowly so I couldn't hear.

Flynn then kneeled before the Don and held up a letter in offering, never raising his head out of respect, "I've brought a letter from his Highness Ioder."

Once the Don took the letter, he moved away, but kneeled still as a sign of respect as the Don opened the letter to read it, "A secret note form the imperial candidate, huh?" He scanned it before passing it to Raven, "Read it aloud."

Raven's eyed widened a bit as he saw it, but they resumed their natural coolness as he spoke, "If Don Whitehorse is taken out of the picture, we are willing to overlook the Union's responsibility in the Barbos affair."

Flynn's head raised up in shock at the mere wording of the letter, "What…?!"

The Don laughed as he replied, "Hah hah hah! Don't make me laugh!"

(Ooooo! Pebble and the Penguin!)

"*hic* Or slap my knee! Hahahaha! *hic*" I said in response to the reference, smiling like an idiot.

"L-Liana! Water! Keep drinking water!" Kairi panicked as Caryn kept pouring water for her to hand to me.

Raven just stared at us with wide eyes before resuming responsibilities and handing Flynn back the letter to proof read it.

Flynn began to shake as he stood up and held the letter, reading it, "…What… what is this?"

"Looks like you and the young master see things a bit differently," the Don mocked.

Even when Flynn raised his head to meet the Don's gaze, his hands were trembling, "There must be some mistake! Master Ioder would never say such a thing."

The Don just barked a bit menacingly, he had enough of this charade for now, "Show our guest here to his own private suite!" The way he said 'suite' made my thighs tremble in weakness… god, can I just fuck this guy now?!

"Don Whitehorse, please listen to me! This is some sort of trap!" Flynn shouted as the two men who were behind him to his right and left walked over to take Flynn into custody, and away from all of us.

"Flynn…!" Estelle shouted in concern as she tried to follow, but Yuri blocked her way. Her tone now changed to disbelief and shock as she looked up at Yuri, "Why would you…?"

"Hang on. If we screw up, it'll only make things worse for Flynn," Yuri told her seriously as we continued watching what was going on.

The Don got up out of his chair and shouted out loud, "All-out war with the empire! We'll take everything we've got and march on the imperial capital! Try and make a fool out of me?! I'll tear these little messengers limb from limb!"

'All-out war' sobered me right up a bit as the Don walked past with Raven and Harry behind him. I held out a hand to stop Kairi and Caryn from giving me anymore water as I mumbled lowly, "Fuck… *hic* time to get back to work…*hic* Seriously…"

"Th-this is bad!" Karol said seriously as he watched them leave.

I got up to join the others, "*hic* Don't gotta tell me twice… ughhh *hic* Never thought I could sober up a bit with *hic* just three words…"

"I've got to let the others know what's happened here, or else this could cause trouble if Flynn doesn't return after a while or they get caught off guard," Caryn replied quickly before running off, some part of me knew that was a lie… she'd get down into Flynn's cell somehow, she wouldn't just leave him there to report to Sodia.

"It looks like he's forgotten all about talking with us," Rita said seriously, tapping her foot, clearly upset that we were being held up.

"I don't think the Don's in much of a talking mood right now," Yuri replied to try to get her to understand why we were being held up.

Estelle then spoke up with a huge pout and a shout, "I have to return to the empire and find out what's really going on!"

Yuri turned to her with a firmer tone than before, "I said hang on. We should sit still for now and see what happens."

Estelle looked a bit defeated, "I…I suppose you're right."

"Of course he's *hic* right, you stupid pink mother fu-!" I managed to get out angrily before Kairi covered my mouth again, earning wide eyes all around.

* * *

-*- The Conspiracy and Flynn's Trouble -*-

Estelle: I cannot believe that Ioder would give a letter like that to Flynn. There must be some mistake!

Rita: We've met His Highness, too, and he certainly didn't seem like that kind of person!

Karol: But you heard the letter—it said to take Don Whitehorse out of the picture!

Yuri: So maybe it was sent by someone who wants to throw a wrench into what Ioder and Flynn are doing.

Liana: Gee, ya think? *hic* That should be the obvious.

Rita: But that's nothing more than a hunch right now.

Yuri: Yeah, you're right. The only thing we know for sure right now is that Flynn is in trouble.

* * *

-*- Drunk Liana 1 -*-

Karol: Man Liana, when you drink, you really get drunk…

Liana: *hic* Usually it's never this bad… *hic* I just laugh like an idiot at just about anything, that's all *hic* wonder why…. *hic* I didn't say anything too bad, did I?

Kairi: That's because you've never had so much of anything with a high alcohol content, like sake!

Yuri: *sweat drop* Though you did ask for a one night with Don Whitehorse and tried to strip down right there…

Karol: Then you said something in some other language and made Caryn bust her gut…

Estelle: Liana, drinking in public isn't good!

Liana: *Hic* Aww iz good, why else would pubs exist then? *hic* Just need moderation… *hic* but that sheeeet was goo*hic*oood.

Estelle: Um, well…

Kairi: At least she can talk without much slurs…and walk straight… anymore and she'd be out of commission…

Liana: *hic* Right now… I wanna *hic* know how to stop these *hic* hiccups!

* * *

We walked all the way to the town square, err, circle, the fresh air starting to help me sober up a bit more… but these hiccups wouldn't leave me for nothing! That's when Yuri began to look around to make it seem like he lost something before speaking up, "Huh…? That's strange."

Karol turned to him, a hint of concern in his eyes as to what could be troubling the long-haired swordsman, "What's the matter, Yuri?"

Yuri shrugged, "…It looks like I dropped my wallet somewhere."

(His wallet… that's the best excuse he could come up with?)

Karol then pouted, upset that his concern was wasted on something like that, "At a time like this?!"

Yuri just gave a helpless smile as he shrugged to show it was inevitable, "Maybe it fell out of my pocket at the Don's place? I'm going to go look. You all wait around here."

Karol just nodded in understanding, taking the bait, "O-okay. Don't take too long!"

And so all of use kept on moving towards the front of the inn, Estelle kept looking back at Yuri, and Kairi and I kept eyeing each other as we spoke, " _Lets think of something *hic* to get us over to that cell_."

" _I agree, but, with you are right now, we need to get you entirely sober and normal before we can think of something like that!_ " Kairi argued back, and my brain blasted.

" _That's *hic* it! You'll be pretending to take me to *hic* the pub to get some water, to help! *hic* Then we go to the Union cells and *hic* 'entertain' Yuri for the while_ ," I replied; honestly, there was no need for us to go check on Yuri, but I was worried about the unfamiliarity of being alone with the group since it's not known how they discover the Blood Alliance in that other pub, and I wasn't going to be the one to screw that up by hanging with them!

" _Okay…_ " Kairi replied a bit skeptical of the idea and not liking the way I emphasized 'entertain'.

So now to try to implement the plan… how I was still thinking, but by now, Yuri should be half done talking to Flynn, I think… gotta think fast… I'm supposedly drunk so… how do drunk people act besides my laughing hysteria?...FUCK! I GOT IT!

I slung myself on Karol and whined, "This is noooo fun~ We should all hit karaoke and sing~!"

"Wuah! Liana! You're heavy, get off!" Karol protested as he tried to shove me off him.

"Liana! We need to worry about what's happening here first!" Estelle argued with me, I wanted to slap her for being so damn bitchy right now cause Flynn's in a cell.

I just smiled stupidly and continued with my act, "Nah *hic* Come sing with me! *hic* Singing brings the *hic* world together! *hic* EVERYONE! *hic* JOIN ME! *hic* Now, I've found *hic*, that the world is round, and of course *hic* it rains, everyda*hic*ay!"

"L-Liana! Please calm down!" Estelle said, her anger turning into deep concern as I kept up my act.

"ANY NOW! I'VE FOUND! *hic* THAT THE WORLD IS ROUND! *HIC* AND OF COURSE! IT RAINS! *HIC* EVERYDAY*HIC*AY!"

"Ah! Shut up, would you, we need to think!" Rita shouted angrily as I kept shouting/singing.

"Uhm, I think it's best I take her to go get some water and ask how to sober her up more at the pub… Is that okay?" Kairi asked politely.

I slung myself on Kairi, "The pub! I wanna go~!"

"That's probably a good idea. Do you need some help?" Estelle asked in worry at Kairi slightly squirming with my weight.

I lightened up to allow for Kairi to hold me so she could refuse the offer, "Uh, no. I think I can handle her just fine now. I'll rope her along. We'll be back soon, so, please don't stray too far…"

"Alright, we'll let Yuri know when he gets back," Estelle replied simply as she went back to watching the 'war' unfold.

Kairi walked off with me slumped on her shoulder towards the Union, when we were about to open the door, Flynn and Caryn popped out almost running us over, "Whoa *hic* seat belts please."

"You two? What are you two doing here?" Flynn asked incredulously.

"*hic* When a man says he dropped his wallet *hic* when he doesn't own one… that's a sure sign that something's off. *hic* And seeing you two means I was right, so now we're going to *hic* see, said man," I answered as I wobbled around like Jack Sparrow.

"Flynn, we don't have much time," Caryn said as she nudged him. He turned to her with a nod and turned to us, "Please don't say anything about us escaping to anyone."

"Gotcha," I replied as we went in and down to go visit our favorite cellmate!

"You must really *hic* love being in jail, Mr. *hic* 'owell," I teased as I opened the cell door (Hell, there's no lock on it anymore anyways) causing him to turn around as Kairi and me walked in.

"Huh? Liana?! Kairi?! What are you two doing here?" He asked as his eyes widened.

"*Hic* Ah, we figured you'd come here; so as former *hic* cell mates, we figured ya'd need some entertainment *hic* so I figured we could play some poker or something," I said with a silly grin as I sat in front of him to the left and Kairi took the right to form a triangle.

"Was it that obvious what I was fixing to do?" Yuri said with a silly grin.

Kairi giggled as she answered, "Yuri… we've been travelling together for just about 2 weeks. So we noticed something very wrong with that excuse you gave us."

"*hic* Ya don't own a wallet, man," I replied a bit wobbly, but I pulled out a bottle water from my bag to keep trying to stop my hiccups. I was starting to return to normal slowly but surely.

Yuri just grinned at the two of us with that 'what can you do' look before replying, "So, you think you can beat me at poker while still being drunk? You got some nerve."

"He*hic*he, not drunk much anymore *hic*, just can't stop these fu*hic*ucking hiccups," I replied with a devious smirk.

Though just as I pulled out the cards, Yuri then had a flash of remembrance in his eyes before turning to me with a serious expression, "Hey, about what happened with that Chef guy. What happened? I know he was about to mention Earth."

Kairi turned to me with wide eyes, "Oh right, I almost forgot. I didn't bother asking, so how'd that go?"

I sighed big time as I scratched the back of my head, "He gave me a bunch of snacks that I've carefully put away in my bag, so Raven doesn't see it. Though, yeah, I noticed the snacks were from Earth, was surprised he had the gall to almost speak about it out loud."

"And?" Kairi asked curious about the interrogation still.

"He said he gets them from Earth, he confirmed that much. I asked how he gets there and if he could take us all there… he said it was a trade secret and that it was forbidden to take us, cause it's only for Wonder Chefs in the Wonder Chef Society in the Wonder Chef Kingdom," I got out taking a deep breath to regain my air after that huge mouthful.

"A kingdom?!" Kairi said almost busting into laughter.

I looked over at Yuri, "So, guess we're still stuck with ya. Sorry 'bout that one man."

"No problem. So, you don't plan on telling the old man then?" Yuri looked to me seriously.

Kairi lowered her head as I looked to her and I sighed, "No, we don't plan on telling him… we're still trying to figure out an excuse to explain Kairi's use of magic, so she can hop in. Though if he hasn't noticed Estelle not using a blastia, there's no way we can just say 'Well Estelle doesn't use her blastia for healing, either!', that'd cause too much trouble…besides…"

"Besides?" Yuri asked, his eyes intently locked on me, waiting for my answer.

"He doesn't seem like a bad guy… but just… when I look in his eyes or hear him talk… I can't figure who I'm talking too at times, and that makes me uncomfortable. So, do ya think you can tell the others not to blab on us? Especially Estelle… I don't feel like we can tell that old man yet," I got out seriously, I couldn't lie if I was going to tell him to cover for us.

"… Fine, I'll speak to the others about it," Yuri got out with a grin.

Kairi just gasped, "Liana, your hiccups are gone!"

"They are?! Fuck ye*hic*eah…. Fudge…" I said dropping my head making both Yuri and Kairi laugh at my nonstop hiccups.

* * *

"Boo yeah! Beat that! Four of a Kind, Kings baby! I had the nuts!" I said mockingly as I threw down my 2 Kings; Yuri sighed and Kairi handed over the pot chips to me.

"Geez, how many times do you plan on beating me?" Yuri said with a pout, "I blame the dealer…"

Kairi just giggled as she was our dealer, "I might be fast with daggers, but I can't do slight of hand works just yet though."

I grinned like an idiot, "My daddy and me loved playing Texas Hold 'Em and Black Jack. Hate my experience and poker face, not the game~"

Kairi shuffled the deck and began to set us up for another game when the sound of the door from above opened up, causing her to gather back up the cards and chips to toss into my bag.

Yuri looked a bit panicked, not certain how a guard would handle two women and a man who are in a jail cell together, but I had my gauntlets and Kairi had her staff, so he wasn't dragging us to hide us like before.

The sound of footsteps silenced us as we waited on this person to arrive down. The footsteps were heavy, so I relaxed in figuring it was the Don. Not too long of a walk and soon he was staring at us through the bars in the cell making me give him a sexy smirk while Kairi just happily waved.

"Taking your friends place in a jail cell? You lost your mind, 'children'?" the Don mocked making me smirk deviously.

"You could say that, cause a lot of people tell us that. Though we're both just here to make sure our favorite cellmate doesn't get bored," I replied with a grin while Kairi giggled.

Yuri just chuckled before turning his head a bit to view the Don to respond, "This coming from an 'old man' who gets rid of his own guards on purpose."

"Humph," the Don got out, which was his own way of chuckling, "I had a special favor ta ask that rookie knight."

"You mean Flynn?" Yuri asked curiously.

"Let me guess? You were gonna ask him to find out about who's responsible for all this, huh?" I replied, earning a look from Yuri while Kairi kept giggling.

"Yeah. The rats that plan these sorta stunts usually like ta enjoy their handiwork from somewhere nearby," the Don nodded as he looked to me with a grin.

That got Yuri's attention again, "If you knew the letter was fake, why'd you fire everyone up like that?"

I gave him a dead stare, "Yuri… I was drunker than an old sea dog, and even I could figure that one out… sometimes, you gotta put on a show to make them think their plan has succeeded."

"I thought sea farers don't get drunk," Kairi said with a curious look.

" _Tell that to Eizen_ ," I replied telepathically as I remembered seeing 4koma of Eizen drunk laying half unconscious on the bar…or was it in an anthology… I forgot.

"Hehe, the ladies right," the Don said laughing a bit as he spoke, "If I didn't make a good show of things, whoever's behind all this wouldn't bother ta come watch. Besides, we've got a lot of hotheads around here who'd never let me hear the end of it if I didn't raise hell."

His footsteps got a bit away before he replied again, "So, that's where it stands. Of course if our friend the knight doesn't show up again, your lives are mine."

"I know," Yuri replied seriously as Kairi just nodded.

I smirked as I looked at the Don one last time before he was about to turn to leave, "I figured too. Sorry about before, I was drunker than hell. Though I meant what I said, and I don't mind one bit either."

He just chuckled as he began to walk away, the sound of his footsteps made Yuri ask his final question, "Tell me one thing, though. What made you want to start a guild in the first place?"

"I realized I couldn't protect the things that were important ta me, playin' by the empire's rules," the Don answered simply and quickly.

"There have to be some things that were easier to protect when you were on the other side, though," Yuri said, almost like he was testing the Don's answer and resolve, "Even in the lower quarter where I'm from, we still had the barrier to protect us."

"Sure, but were ya happy with just puttin' up with all the things ya didn't like?" the Don test and pushed right back making Yuri go wide eyed a bit in thought, "Well, I…"

"I take it as a 'no'," I replied with a Davy Jones tone, making Kairi giggle as Yuri gave me a silly grin.

The Don just continued after I said aloud what Yuri's answer was, "So if the rules the empire sets don't suit ya, you've got two choices. You can do like your friend is, and put everything you've got into changin' the system. Or ya can turn yer back on the empire, and live by the rules ya set fer yerself."

"Now that's poetry," I said in adoration, if I had to pick either one, I'd go with the latter, screw the empire's rules.

"That's pretty clear cut…" Yuri said a bit in admiration as well, he also was in thought too.

"…Yep," The Don said in a rather funny way, I almost bust my gut as he continued speaking in a mocking tone, "In any case, the ladies here ain't got nothin' ta do with what you've done. So, I think yer gonna have ta take responsibility for lettin' my prisoner go."

"You want me to do something besides losing at poker in this cell?" Yuri said in a bit of a mocking tone in return making me punch his shoulder at his remark, though Kairi was highly amused.

"The sap who's been puttin' together this little show's gotta be somewhere in this city," the Don replied before he took on a mocking tone once again as if to remind him how stupid taking Flynn's place was, "Oh, I'd been plannin' on askin' yer armor-wearin friend ta hunt 'em down for me, but…"

"So what, you want me to find them?" Yuri asked seriously yet curiously.

The Don just turned towards the cell one last time, "Your job is ta pay this debt back ta me. How ya go about it is up ta you. That young lady ya brought with ya is runnin' all over the place helpin' with the injured folks. Yer not the type ta be the only one sittin around twiddlin' his thumbs, right?"

"…Estelle. Huh, that sounds like her," Yuri said almost breathlessly again with a smile, this time making Kairi's previous happy attitude fade into a look of envy and pain… she'd help with the people too… if it wasn't for Raven watching…

Soon the Don's footsteps began to lead away, and I stood up causing the two to stare up at me, "Well, ya heard the man. Let's get to work."

Yuri nodded, he got up along with Kairi, and the three of us left the cell to go rejoin the others up ahead…but first…

"Hey Yuri, come look into this pot! Hurry, hurry!" I said frantically, trying to get him to look into the pot to give Kairi a little pick me up; because, a pouty Kairi makes for cloudy skies.

"Huh? Why?" Yuri asked with a scowl and a pout.

"COME HERE AND LOOK DAMNIT BEFORE I-" I shouted angrily, making him freeze up and obey, "Okay, okay!"

He walked over and stared into the pot, "What am I supposed to see?"

"Tell me what you see, Mr. Lowell," I asked in a funny tone.

He gazed into it intently and I bust my gut, his face… it was turning red just like the game says!

"What?" He asked in shock at my sudden outburst, and I quickly sandwiched his face in my hands, squishing to make his lips go like a fish, and turned his face towards Kairi, "Kairi look! It's the Sun!"

Kairi's frown quickly turned into a huge smile as she laughed so hard at how red his face was, he could put the hottest red pepper to shame.

"W-What?!" Yuri asked as he brushed off my hands, embarrassed now and a bit steamed as he didn't understand what was happening, "What was that all for?!"

I nodded as I got my air back and winked, "Because you are 'Yuri', and 'Yuri' is the Universal Answer remember?"

"… Lets just go," Yuri said as he walked off with us following him, the red on his face still not leaving.

* * *

As we got out the Union HQ, people were running here and there, one guy even almost ran into us as he shouted, "Out of the way! The Don is passing through!"

"Is he really planning on going to war just to lure those rats out of hiding?" Yuri asked seriously as we saw the Don rallying the troops, Raven besides him.

"Oh, Yuri! Kairi! Liana!" we heard Karol shout and we spotted him near the east path way with Estelle.

We ran over and Yuri looked to Estelle checking her over a bit, "Have you finished healing the injured yet?"

(Come to think of it… was Estelle running around healing people what caused Judith to arrive, or maybe it caused Phaeroh to arrive as well? I mean her using her healing over and over stimulates the aer krene soooo badly…)

"How did you know that?" Estelle asked curiously and a bit shocked that he knew.

"The Don told us," Yuri said simply, "This is from him-his way of saying thanks."

I tilted my head, what was from him? Letting us go?

"But Yuri, things have gotten really bad!" Karol shouted frantically.

"Yeah, we noticed," Yuri said turning back to see the forming mob around the Don.

"No, that's not what I mean," Karol shouted in a huge fit.

"Then just spill baby boy," I said sternly to try to calm him from throwing a tantrum.

"What else?" Yuri added as he turned to Karol as well seriously.

"I saw them!" Karol said making me sweat drop… that wasn't a helpful description…

"You saw…who?" Yuri asked to try to get him to elaborate more.

Estelle shook her head and answered as Karol wasn't being very informal, "The Blood Alliance! Barbos wasn't with them, but…"

Yuri began to ponder as Karol added in now, "Rita and Repede are shadowing them right now."

"Just what the Don wanted…" Yuri said with a nod.

"Let's catch up with Rita," Karol got out before he dashed off.

"Yeah, let's go," Yuri said as we all followed after Baby Boy.

* * *

-*- What the Don and Flynn are Thinking -*-

Estelle: Where you three talking with the Don, Yuri? You were all gone for a long time.

Yuri: We had some rounds of poker and a nice little chat through some thick iron bars.

Estelle: …Yuri, did you three get Flynn out of prison by trading places with him?

Yuri: No, it's nothing like that.

Liana: Technically… we caught on to what Yuri was doing, so Kairi and I didn't really switch places with him, but Yuri did.

Yuri: ! Anyway, Flynn would've been released even if I hadn't gotten involved.

Estelle: What do you mean?

Yuri: The Don planned all along to capture Flynn, and use him to find out who's behind this whole mess.

Estelle: So both the Don and Flynn know that there's someone else manipulating things?

Liana: *mutters* If you think they didn't notice…. How stupid can you be?

Yuri: Yeah. Why do I let myself get caught up in the stuff? Now the Don's making me do his dirty work… What a pain!

Liana: Take responsibility and own up to your own actions like a boss, dammit!

Yuri: !

* * *

"Rita!" Karol shouted as we ran towards her, she and Repede were hiding behind some barrels and boxes near the entrance, but why were they hiding?

Rita waved her hand for us to lower our voices and keep low as she whispered a bit loudly, "Shh… kid, you're too loud."

We peeked out from behind the boxes and my jaw dropped, there were Blood Alliance guards up the wazoo guarding the door… they weren't there in the XBOX 360 version… damn PS3 content kicking in when it feels like! Just let us walk in and thwart this guy dammit!

"…Looks like we can't force our way in," Yuri said in thought, trying to think of a way to bus tin there without causing an all out brawl that'd alert Barbos.

Estelle turned to him seriously, worry etching her features, "But if Barbos is in there…"

"I know," Yuri said a tad seriously as he kept thinking, "We can't just sit here twiddling out thumbs either."

(He got that from the Don… I just know it…)

"What do we do…" Karol said in thought, though concern was just rolling off his tone.

"I'll let ya in on somethin' good," we heard a familiar voice behind us speak up.

Kairi gasped as we turned to see that Raven was right behind her, but she clamped her hand on her mouth to stop herself from squeaking or screaming in surprise.

"…You again?" Rita said uninterested, though a bit irritated at his presence.

Yuri looked over at the mob that was still growing and tuned to Raven, "Hey, shouldn't you be over there with the rest?"

He walked a bit closer but was mainly between Yuri and Kairi, "I should be, but the Don told me to watch over ya so that ya don't botch the job." He slung his arm over Kairi's shoulders holding her a bit close as he spoke more teasingly, his gaze switching from Kairi to Yuri, "Wanna come relax with me at the bar and hear me out?"

"Uhh, Ummm…" Kairi said a bit uncomfortable at the sudden close proximity.

Estelle gave him a stern look but spoke rather casually as she met his gaze, "We don't really have time to lounge around like that…"

"It'll be fine," Raven said still rather teasingly, "You sound like you expect me to trick you."

"With that tone, can you blame us?" I said with an awkward grin.

"When you put it that way, it makes it sound like someone is here to trick us…!" Rita said in a suspicious tone as he glared at Raven.

"I can deal with getting tricked a few times," Yuri sad calmly before his usual expression was replaced with an angry, murderous gaze, "But I'm sure you know even a saint's got limits, right, old man?"

Despite Yuri's nightmare inducing gaze, Raven's stupefied face that he makes in the game is 3x as hilarious in reality! I almost bust my gut as he gazed at Yuri dumbly before using a cheery, childish tone to speak, his grip on Kairi's shoulder still tight as he rested his head on hers to emphasize when he spoke with a wink, "Don't make such a scary face when a pretty lady is watching. I told you, I get it. C'mon youngin', smile for me. This way."

Raven began to walk off, his grip still on Kairi, dragging her along; which caused her to lightly panic, "Eto… Ano…."

I sighed as I power walked over and removed his arm from around her with a pinch on his ass, almost laughing as he yelped, "Hey unless she initiates skin ship sessions, she doesn't like them."

He rubbed his ass and pouted, "Ya can be so cruel, darlin'."

With that we followed him into the west bar, where he walked over to the guard that was now guarding the special VIP drinking area as I called it, "We're going in."

Yuri looked around, it was rather spacious and kinda homelike, I'd pay the VIP fee to drink and eat in here away from the bustle if it were possible. Yuri just asked, "Where are we?"

"This is where the Don meets with his distinguished guests and has private discussions over drinks," Raven just explained… fuck it's not even a VIP room…it's a DON room… well there goes any chance of eating here.

"Are you telling us to sit around and drink?" Yuri asked seriously, and I sighed, "How'd you come to that conclusion? All he did was explain what the room was to answer your question of where we were"

Yuri just looked a little taken aback by my remark, mainly because I was defending Raven, but I made sense. Raven just continued as he walked scratched his chin in thought, "If yer' friend comes back with the real letter, we can settle the whole matter peacefully."

"Sorry, but I can't let Flynn act cool all on his own," Yuri said with a serious tone and pout, making Raven move towards the back end of the room where the secret door was.

Estelle pouted angrily as well, "We have to locate the person who started this commotion. If Barbos managed to…"

"Now, now. Haste makes waste ," Raven practically sung that out as he motioned towards the secret door, making Yuri walk over to investigate.

"What's this?" Yuri asked as he checked out the door.

"A complex underground canal stretches across the city. Way back, when the empire was occupying the city, guilds his in this canal and waited for an opportunity to counterattack," Raven explained cooly.

"It can't be… You're not going to tell me… that this connects to that canal, are you?" Karol asked almost unbelievably.

"That's exactly right," Raven said seriously before turning his gaze to the door, "So, let's sneak around right under their noses and size 'em up."

Yuri looked in thought for a bit, but still kept eyeing Raven, "So we'll sneak around and ambush them. It's a detour, but it seems sound enough."

"That's what I'm saying. Aren't ya glad you trusted me?" Raven said in a 'praise me now' kinda tone.

Yuri just gave him a normal gaze as he spoke, "I won't know that until we go and take a look."

"You don't have any confidence in me, do ya?" Raven asked a bit dumbly, feigning injury as he asked.

"Naturally, you're going to come along with us, aren't you?" Yuri asked curiously making Raven respond with another stupefied look as he spoke in a stupefied, whining tone as well, "Oh man, and here I was totally ready to back out."

Yuri gave him a serious gaze, guess the term 'keep your enemies close' was the best phrase to stick here, but Yuri made it sound better, "We're gonna make you show off your cool side too, now. Let's go."

Everyone began to walk past and ahead, but the sight of the walkway down was terrifying… it was pitch black… I mean no light whatsoever… sure we won't be alone with traveling with the group… but the monsters…

Kairi clutched my arm, the same fear in her eyes reflected my own as we watched the others heading down. We couldn't bring ourselves to take that first step down…

"Woof!" we heard Repede bark making the others ask what was wrong as we saw him come out of the dark and walk in front of Kairi. He peered up at her with clear eyes, he nudged his head towards the staircase, as if asking us to follow, "Wao, woof woof!"

"Eh… I-I know we're all together down there… it's just…" Kairi began to speak, shaking a little as she replied to Repede.

"Woof! Waon! Woof woof! Woof!" He continued to bark.

"B-But… I… it's just… I'm scared… I can't…" she replied, this time she was about to burst into tears.

I sweat dropped… I certainly didn't belong in the middle of this fiasco… I don't speak DOG!

Repede whined before barking a bit, rubbing on Kairi's leg, "Woof woof. Woof!"

Kairi's face flared bright red and kept getting darker as she spoke, completely flustered for some reason, "EH?! Uh, I mean… I know he will but…I mean it's not like I'm expecting him to protect me! I mean! THAT'S NOT IT AT ALL!"

I looked between the two, my previous fear slightly dissipating at the sheer curiosity of what they're talking about…

"Repede, where are you? What's up?" Yuri called as he climbed back up into view, the second he saw us his gaze turned into a huge pout, "Hey, what's the hold up with you two?"

I was about to say something but Kairi's squeak tore that sassy reply out of my head, "IT'S NOTHING!"

I sweat dropped as her face was still extremely flushed, "Seriously, what is he telling you?"

Yuri then looked like her remembered and dropped his head a bit, "Oh right, forgot you two are afraid of the dark…"

"Oh, our little ladies here are afraid of the dark, eh?" Raven's voice came as he walked up the stairs, "In that case, I gladly offer up my arms for ya dolls"

I sweat dropped and took Yuri's left arm as Kairi clutched to the back of Yuri's right arm, "I'd feel safer with an egg bear than clinging onto you, old man."

Yuri just looked to the two of us with wide eyes as he tried to find the words to argue about having us both on both his arms but couldn't.

"Now that ain't fair," Raven pouted big time.

Yuri opened his mouth, but I beat him to it, "Got a problem Lowell? You got a woman on each arm, be more grateful!"

He just dropped his head, figuring it was the only way we'd compromise going down there, "Fine. Just stay put if you let go, and I'll pick you two up, okay?"

Kairi's cheeks were flushed deep red, but she nodded, "O-O-Okay…"

Raven just sulked as he walked behind us as we all headed down into the dark abyss known as The Underpass of the Pact…

* * *

I thought I could get us to Ghasfarost… but when I saw we were getting to 9k words, I opted to throw in the Underpass of the Pact for fun!

Caryn: I was surprised when you threw this chapter at me and was like, DONE, and I was like… HOW?!

I got it done fast, I'm caught up on work for now and no tests at least for a few more weeks. Plus, I had already kinda had this chapter planned in advance, but couldn't tell how far I'd get, so it was easy-ish…. Next chapter may not be so, since the game doesn't show how the others got there…and I'm still trying to think on how we'd get there…

Caryn: Any drabble plans?

You know it, but I wanna defeat Barbos and leave Dahngrest before I begin on them.

Caryn: I still can't believe you actually put in that you wanted to fuck the Don XD

The heart wants what the heart wants… and so does the body ;D

Caryn: You whore, cheating on poor Nier!

Nier isn't even in this story DX

Some translations:

Demo – But

Oss – It's like a positive answering response, like 'yes'.

No Habla Ingles – I don't speak English!

Eto… Ano… - Uh… Um…

Next time: The Underpass of the Pact and Ghasfarost (I'm hoping this time we can make it o-o; )


	27. 26: Onward To Ghasfarost Tower!

Permanent Note: If you aren't keeping up with the Drabbles, you'll be lost on some things as the chapters progress~ Keep up with that ;D

Please remember, ( ) parenthesis are MY thoughts, _italics are telepathic talk between me and Kairi_

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Tales of Vesperia, Justin, or Caryn. I DO have permission to use Justin and Caryn though. I OWN myself, Kairi, and my work in this fic. That is all….

* * *

"Wow… it's pitch black…" Estelle said in surprise (Way to point out the obvious…).

"Just don't take a wrong turn and get lost down here forever. Hey, you two are shaking a bit too much. I'm seriously going to fall over here," Yuri said seriously as he tried to move his arms around a bit, but I had a tight grip on his left arm, I'd imagine Kairi was actually wrapped on his right arm as well.

"Well, excuse us…" I said pretty tamely, not wanting to fume and burst into rage and leg go of his arm by accident.

"Hey, Miss Genius Mage, why don'cha cast a fire spell and light the way with a bang?" Raven asked curiously.

Rita however was not amused, and her tone definitely displayed it, "Are you trying to treat me like a lamp? You have some nerve."

Though Estelle began to plead with her in hopes of calming her down, "Rita, is there anything you can do?"

Rita hummed in thought, calming down from her earlier frustration before answering, "Hm… Nope. My fire spells are purely offensive. I would need a continuous supply of aer in order to maintain the illumination. Something like a lux blastia."

"Man…Really?" Raven said in disbelief, guess he was hoping Rita'd lead the way with fire blazing.

"Looks like you missed the mark, old man," Yuri said a bit boredly at Raven's screw up.

The sound of movement made me grip Yuri's arm a little tighter, at least until Repede let out a casual bark. I keep forgetting at times that we got a canine on board the party… and a bad ass, pipe smoking one at that.

"Hm…? Is this a blastia?" Rita said in confusion, the sound of metal vibrating as she possibly gave that tank that lets out the aer a good few knocks with whatever Repede gave her, "It's pretty damaged, but I think I can use it."

Suddenly the sound of gas coming through a vent could be heard, and then there was light. Light coming from a blastia on a stick that Rita was holding near the tank's vent, where green little orbs were coming out like gas.

I felt a bit nauseated, but it wasn't something that couldn't be tolerated. Karol began to panic however, is scaredy-cat nature kicking in, "Whoa, it won't explode or anything, right? Is it okay?"

"Of course it won't," Rita answered simply as she showed the group the blastia and pointing to the tank, "This is a lux blastia. It'll shine if you replenish its supplement shell with aer."

Estelle clapped her hands, "That's amazing, Rita!"

Rita nodded but looked at the blastia pretty sadly, "It looks pretty worn out, so I doubt it will hold for very long, though."

"All right, let's get out of here while this thing' is all lit up… You two can let go now, just stick close," Yuri said casually, moving his arms to motion for us to let go.

I let go with a pout as did Kairi, I couldn't even think of a sassy remark at the moment. I knew in a few moments we'd be in the dark again for that Albino monster's introduction and tutorial on keeping the light lit.

We all nodded and Rita handed Yuri the lux blastia to lead the way, and we walked on for about perhaps 10 minutes until Karol looked over the railing of the canal and shouted, "M-monster!"

We all stopped to see an Albino Merfish swimming in the canal. Though nothing eventful happened.

"…It's… not attacking," Estelle said curiously as she watched them swim about.

Yuri turned to her with reassuring eyes, if it wasn't attacking, then that was a good thing, "There's no reason to worry."

Just then the lamp began to flicker, and Kairi and I stiffened up as Estelle spoke loudly in shock, "Ah… the lamp…"

Then, everything turned pitch black, and I could tell where I was. I began to feel around, but I couldn't feel anything, and I began to slowly, mentally panic, not moving like Yuri told me… last place I wanted to be was in the canal…

"We should refill it with aer before it possibly stops working," Rita said quickly as we could hear Kairi whimper.

The sound of water splashing filled out ears along with the sound of something wet coming out way. I stiffened up, I couldn't figure where it was at, my eyes hadn't adjusted to the dark enough to see 'white' through the darkness.

"Wha…!" Karol shouted in panic, causing Yuri to unsheathe his blade as a just in case, "Damn!"

Kairi's whimpers got louder and soon, the only sound in the canal was an ear rending scream of horror; you'd figure she was being massacred with how loudly she screamed, "IIIIYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

The scream echoed throughout the canal, causing somethings that were probably metallic to ring like a bell tower in an earthquake. Soon the scream was replaced by hyperventilated breathing, loud wails and crying, and frantic whimpering. Kairi had broken down, big time!

The sound of a fight broke out between the group and the Merfishes, though I couldn't see for nothing. I began to panic a little more as my eyes weren't adjusting yet, "So… how do I join in if I don't know where to punch?"

"Just stay put! Hah!" Yuri shouted back as I heard just the plop of wet monsters moving through the darkness.

I pouted and shook a bit before giving up and sitting down, hugging my knees as I responded, "Fine…. Just don't bump into me if you don't want me accidentally break your bones…"

"…Noted…" Yuri replied after a huge pause, as though processing its validity.

I sighed big time and looked around, trying to see if I could adjust to the dark, but strangely, there was no luck, it was one reason why I hated the dark so much. The fight dragged on for a while, my breathing beginning to hyperventilate due to a wave of panic washing over my body as I listened to Kairi whimper and cry. I just wanted the others to win and refill that lux blastia already!

AS soon as that thought was finished, the sounds of battle stopped, and all I could hear was Yuri's voice, "Everyone, okay?"

"Y-Yeah," baby boy got out as he sounded a little winded.

I could hear footsteps shuffling and I began to panic more. I couldn't tell if they were trying to find us or leaving, at least until I heard some footsteps stop and Estelle began to talk with a worried tone, "Kairi? Kairi, it's okay…"

I guess they were looking for Kairi first since she was reacting the worse to being in the dark than me. So long as there was no red eyes or glowing eyes of death staring at me, I was perfectly sane… but petrified in fear.

Suddenly I heard Kairi shout loudly along with the sounds of ruffling clothes as though a flag were waving rapidly, "IYA! Iyada! Iyada! D-Doko sawate?! Momu na! Hanase! Chikayoranaide!"

"Uwah! S-sorry! Kairi! It's okay! Please, just calm down!" Estelle shouted in concern.

(Oh shit! She's speaking Japanese! Fuck! How to explain this to Raven afterwards…. Fuck! ... Could always plead temporal insanity… that'd work…phew…)

Suddenly the sound of something hitting metal rang through the area and Kairi silenced right up with only one word lightly coming from her, before whimpering again, "Eh?"

"Hey! Yer right at the rail!" Raven shouted in panic.

That wasn't good, a monster could easily just spot her from there, "Kairi… I know you're scared shitless… but do as I say… and do it carefully…."

She just continued to lightly whimper, I couldn't tell if she was agreeing or not, "Listen. Just feel around on the ground… if you know where the rail is, then feel forward away for them and crawl, since if you stand to feel the air, you may not feel the rails and go over…. Just keep going until you either reach one of us or the wall, Okay? Okay?"

"Mmm… mhm…" She slowly replied before the sound of her rubbing her hand along the floor could be heard. It continued on until I heard the shuffling of clothes and Kairi shouted again, "Hyaaaaa! N-Nani!? Dare?!"

"Easy there sweetheart, it's just me-whoaaaaa!" Raven got out until the sound of some thud and rustling clothes was all that can be heard until Raven spoke up again amidst Kairi's light whimpers. His calm voice changed to a tone of shaking nerves, "Uh… S-Sweetheart? I realize yer terrified, but uh, do ya really gotta stick so c-close?"

I sighed big time realizing she must be clinging to Raven like life depended on it, before pouting a bit at how poorly she handled this scenario, "First you complain about her not clinging to you… now you complain about her doing it? If she initiates skin-ship sessions, just deal with it, ya contrary old koot."

Raven just laughed nervously, it only made me curious as to what position they were in, "Ehehe… right… though I don't think I can get up like this…"

And that activated my dirt brain, and it caused me to shriek out in disbelief as images poured into my head, "You got a boner just from her clinging to you?!"

"NO! NO! THAT'S NOT IT AT ALL!" Raven shouted back quickly in retaliation, "She just really has a hold on me! I can't get up at all!"

That made me pout in disappointment as I sighed and just spoke up as I couldn't tell where anyone was, "Yuri…. We need to refill that lamp, and fast…we can't just be stuck here."

"But that was a shock… that monster waited for our guard to be down before attacking…," Karol said in thought as well as in surprise.

Rita just scoffed, "There's no way a monster could be that smart."

"Rita… what did I say when you last said that? Monsters can adapt and learn…" I reminded her, "So you shouldn't belittle or underestimate them if you think they're just mindless, feral creatures… if they were, they'd be easier to read and handle."

"Is it possible it was just afraid of the light?" Estelle asked curiously, albeit a bit in thought.

"There are monsters like that?" Yuri asked curiously as well.

"Among those creatures that live in dark places such as caves or deep underwater, there are those who's tolerance to light grows weak, and that becomes a strong stimulus to run away from it," Estelle said in her reciting tone… I wouldn't be surprised if she was doing that high and mighty pose with her head tilted up too.

Karol spoke up with relief in his tone, "I see… So that means it won't attack us while it's bright… Hey? Is that another one of those aer things?"

I looked around, but I couldn't see anything, "Don't ask me, I can't see anything…"

"Neither can I," Rita added, Estelle joining in too, "I can barely see something like that, but…"

"It might be, I can just about make out the shape," Yuri said calmly.

"Then go refill it with Karol since you two can see it more clearly than we can. If we move, we may end up in the canal…" I added with a whine.

"And this old man can't even move…" Raven added with a nervous tone.

"Alright, then come on Karol, let's go refill this," Yuri said towards Karol who I assume may have nodded as a pair of foot steps could be heard echoing through the canal. Soon there was a light up ahead, not too far away showing Yuri and Karol. The two then turned to run back to all of us to illuminate the party to lead us back towards the tank.

I had to internally laugh at how tightly Kairi was clinging to Raven, straddling his left thigh too, her head buried in the junction of his shoulder and neck, trembling in fear with light whimpers.

"K-Kairi. It's okay now, you can look up," Estelle said gently.

"The blastia's lit again, so it should be fine to get off that old man now," Rita said also, though she was more of a normal tone than concerned.

"Kairi, sweetheart… ya can let go now, there's light again," Raven tried to say cheerfully. Though she only merely raised her head slowly to peer around, as if not believing him.

"Woof!" Repede barked as he walked beside Raven to give her some licks on her nose, cheek, forehead, anywhere on her face that was visible to him.

"Uwa! Hahaha! I got it! I got it! Stop! Haha! Heel! You'll lick me to death!" Kairi began to laugh as Repede continued to lick her face relentlessly, knocking her on the ground off Raven.

"Alright Repede, I'd say she's okay. So, you can let her off the hook now," Yuri said with that signature, silly grin.

"Woof!" Repede barked in acknowledgement before turning to rub his head against her pretty firmly to squeeze himself under her arm.

I blinked a few times before trying to read what he was doing, "Um… I think he wants to act as a guide dog, Kairi. You can get up now, just carefully hold onto his tail, I guess?"

She looked down at Repede with pleading eyes, "Can I?"

He nodded with a serious look before getting up and wagging his tail to and fro in front of her, as if to say, 'Get up, and grab on.'

Kairi nodded and got up slowly wobbling, grabbing Repede's tail with a very light grip as we all turned to Yuri to lead the way to the tank to make sure it was back at 100% charge before we'd continue further.

"Let's be careful not to let it run out and refill it as we go," Yuri said as he turned to us, making us all nod in agreement. Except for Estelle who was busy opening and closing her hand as we continued onward… it made me curious…

"Uh, Estelle? You okay? You injure your hands or something?" I asked a bit concerned.

"Huh? Oh, uh, no. Why do you ask?" She said nervously, it made me not buy that at all.

"You keep opening and closing your hand…" I said pointing to her left hand that was still doing the motion.

"Eh?! Well… I mean… it's not hurt, it's just…" Estelle said a bit nervously, causing us all to stop and look at her, we weren't far from another tank to refill if the lamp started to die.

"Estelle, just show us your hand…" Yuri said a bit commanding.

She blushed as she held out her hand, there wasn't a scratch on it…

"It's not injured…so what's the deal?" Rita asked a bit more curious now.

"Uh… well…" Estelle said as her cheeks went pink.

"…" Kairi blushed a bit before responding with her free hand covering her right breast, "…. She squeezed me…"

I then turned to Estelle with a smirk, "Oh ho~, so got a handful, was that it? Satisfied?"

"Oh now that's even more cruel and unfair!" Raven said with a huge whine.

"Shut up, old man!" Rita said as she chopped Raven hard; I wouldn't stop her from her Raven abuse, it was Karol abuse that won't happen on my watch.

"It's not like I meant to do that! I was just trying to reach for her shoulder, and-!" Estelle said with a red face now.

I just laughed at her expense as she tried explaining how it was an 'accident', with the flicker of the light, that was our cue to run towards the tank before it went out entirely; blest Kairi panic again…

* * *

-*-Gibberish-*-

Raven: Say, what was with those weird words Kairi dear kept shoutin' about?

Kairi: Ummm… I'm sorry, that was… I don't…

Liana: She wasn't sane old man, she was basically spouting gibberish in the midst of her insanity.

Yuri: Yeah, she and Liana both do that when they end up losing their minds at times.

Raven: Sure sounded like words ta me though.

Liana: Think what you want old man, not like any of us could translate it if you wanted.

* * *

As we continued, we ended up in one of my favorite areas… the place with the Union's pledge.

Yuri rubbed the wall with his hand as he checked it out, "Hm, something is carved here. …Letters? What is it?"

Estelle then began to say aloud, "In the past, our ancestors discarded their countries that had forgotten their duty to protect their people and thus became their own, true protectors of freedom. That event was the origin of the guilds. However, now, once again, the iron shackles of suppression have been wrapped around our necks. We have forgotten the pledge of our ancestors and have become people who do naught but pursue our own self-interests and fight amongst ourselves. Therefore, we once again return to the underlying principles behind guilds, and use not our strength for the individual. Our swords serve our freedom. Our shields serve our friends. Our lives serve everyone. Here we pledge the old oath anew."

I turned to her with wide eyes, "How can you read that? It's still a bit dark even with the light coming from cracks in the ceiling above… and that waterway…"

"Hey…Isn't this the 'Pledge of the Union'?" Karol asked a bit excited.

"What's that?" Rita asked a bit curious now.

Baby boy just looked proud as he answered her, "It looks like the motto that was created when the Don formed the Union."

"Since you can't depend on the empire to protect you, you protect each other. For that reason, everyone unites and puts their lives on the line for each other. Or something like that," Raven spoke in a mix of seriousness and jest.

"But why is the pledge written here of all places?" Karol asked seriously, yet he was obviously curious.

Raven looked up at the huge stone slab before answering, "The Union's origins come from when the guilds were compelled to oppose the Empire when it occupied the city. Up until that point, the guilds were entirely scattered and did whatever they liked. They only unified if there was a problem. And, once that problem was resolved, they would scatter again. So, when they were occupied by the Empire, they finally realized how bad that was."

"And the one who was the leader in influencing the guilds was Don Whitehorse!?" Baby boy fanboyed so hard.

"Yeah. Back then, this canal must've been pretty useful," Raven said pretty happily.

Baby boy kept fanboying at all the new info on the Don he was receiving, "So, at that time they made that pledge to unite here?"

"Seems like it. There's always been talk that the real thing's been written somewhere," Raven said as he scratched his chin before turning to look at it again, "but who'd a thought it'd be some scrawls on a wall like this?"

Yuri's focus was on the wall, so he didn't notice when Estelle walked up besides him, "A pledge written in the wall is somehow very lovely."

I blinked dumbly as Yuri still didn't notice her. Was she trying to make a move or not? Seriously… though Kairi was pouty yet again…

She didn't mention Aifread at all, even when Yuri turned to us all, "This is fun and all, but right now we have to focus on Barbos. Let's get going."

I tilted my head…. Why didn't Estelle mention Aifread? Was it a huge deal? I mean Patty's not in the party and she wasn't introduced, so….. It may be okay to ignore for now…

"Looks like Rover's gonna have to resume being guide dog again. Through that dark hallway is the only way ahead," Raven said with his hands behind his head.

"And just who is Rover?" I asked dumbly, my face had to look dumb too.

"Woof woof! Grrrrr!" Repede got out, clearly not liking his nickname as he took his spot beside Kairi again.

"Raven, he doesn't appreciate the nickname," Kairi pouted as she spoke to him.

"Let's just got guys," Yuri said, trying to get us on track and stop the distractions.

To which Raven and Repede let it drop as we pressed onward, Kairi and me just staring in awe at the bright golden light at the end of the waterway for this area as we walked by it. It made the water glisten like gold, was it because Dahngrest's sky was permanently red-orange? In any case… for a musty underground canal… this was gorgeous.

* * *

-*-Union's Pledge-*-

Yuri: 'Our swords serve our freedom,' huh?

Karol: The Pledge of the Union?

Yuri: Not for the unaccommodating empire, but for their own freedom. Sounds nice.

Liana: *Low enough for only them to hear* Yeah. It sounds a lot nicer than any of the documents for freedom and rights we have on Earth.

Karol: If you two can emphasize, then you're probably suited for a guild, Liana and Yuri.

Liana: I don't know about that much… oh! !

Yuri: Hm Well, I wasn't suited for the knights.

Repede: *Woof!*

Karol: Oh, Repede, you agree?

Repede: *Woof woof!*

Yuri: A guild, huh…

Liana: I'lll stick to being a Dancing Samurai~!

Yuri/Karol: ?!

* * *

-*-Keeping a Secret-*-

Raven: Hmmm hmmm hmmm *humming* Oh! I think I see an aer refill area up ahead~! *goes forward*

Liana: ….

Estelle: Liana, you seem a little distracted. Is everything okay?

Liana: No… everything is not okay… I want to listen to my music or sing it so badly… but I don't feel comfortable letting that old man in on being from Earth at all…

Rita: Ah, I can understand that much…

Karol: Yeah, he is pretty fishy...

Yuri: So, let's all try to keep it a secret from the old man. No one tells him a thing about Kairi or Liana, or Earth, got it?

Karol: Yeah! Lets all do some sort of oath of our own!

Raven: *comes back* Huh? What oath?

Liana: Stop ruining the sibling hood of the traveling pants!

Raven: Huh?!

Kairi: Uh… Liana… you and me aren't wearing pants…

Liana: *mutters* Fudge…

* * *

-*-Our Promise-*-

[All muttering]

Estelle: Uhmm, we promise to keep this unto ourselves.

Rita: Not to tell a living soul with 'our' own two lips.

Yuri: We promise with our very lives to uphold this promise.

Kairi: Eto… to ensure the safety of us all…

Karol: … I probably could've come up with a better oath, Liana….

Repede: Woof!

Liana: Finish it baby boy… or we can always just spit shake on it.

Estelle: No, there's no way we can do that!

Rita: That's so disgusting, who even came up with that method anyways?!

Karol: Fine… We make this promise to keep Earth a secret from all that aren't allowed to know…

Yuri/Karol/Estelle/Rita/Kairi/Liana/Repede: Amen!/Woof!

Raven: *shivering* You all are seriously freaking me out here… you plotting a murder or something?

Liana: *smirks* … You never know old man…

Raven: ! I-I'll just keep on going…

* * *

We continued onward avoid the monsters but gathering chests along the way. I had to wonder if we were strong enough for Barbos at this point. Though I'd have to set that behind me, we'd have to be strong enough to, there's no 'Oh, lets go grind a bit before the boss battle' option here…

Soon a door was in sight and I inwardly began to panic a little as Yuri opened it and we all walked in; I was hoping things didn't screw up. Flynn better have gotten that letter, and I had to hope Judy would arrive on time…

"This is…" Yuri said as he looked around the empty pub, guess everyone fled because of the 'war' that was about to break out.

"The town's east bar-room that Barbos is using as a hideout. The place you were tryin' to sneak into," Raven answered.

Karol looked in thought, "So that means Barbos is here somewhere…?"

"If I were a villain… I'd want to see my handiwork from somewhere up above for a full-view," I said in thought, everyone giving me wide eyes, "What?! How many times had I said, I try to think of all angles?! Including dark thoughts if need be!"

"Well, it looks like there's a way up… Shall we? A villain likes to view from above, right?" Yuri said to me with a smirk.

"Shut it, Lowell," I said with red cheeks at the semi compliment in reference to my previous wanted status.

We all climbed up the stairs… Raven included, which made my eyes go wide… in the Xbox version he didn't follow us up here… ah, but he did in the PS3… curse you PS3 version!

"Y-you guys!" Rita shouted as Ragou and Barbos came into view.

Yuri just looked unamused as he spoke, "It's the world series of villains and you had to take the best seat in the house?"

I trembled a little… I was remembering the House of Mouse, when the villains take it over for like Halloween and sometimes.

"What fool would dare to heckle my exquisite performance?" Barbos said with a bored look, even as he looked at us, he looked bored to death, "Oh ho, if it isn't the little runts I met on the ship."

Estelle just walked up a bit, pointing her finger almost like Phoenix Wright at Barbos as she spoke up a bit angrily, "You're the one who's been causing all of the recent chaos!"

I quickly noted Ragou hiding behind a guard, must be afraid I'll 'fix' his nose if I get my hands on him.

"And what of it? You fools will never manage to capture me," Ragou just said so smugly.

Rita just looked at him dumbly, clearly he was outnumbered and classed here, "Oh yeah? What's your reasoning there?"

Yuri just answered for her, "A villain is someone who never considers losing a possibility. That's why he thinks the way he does."

Karol just gave Yuri a funny smirk, "If so, then that makes you quite a villain, Yuri."

I began to giggle along with Kairi at that. Busting our guts with Yuri's next line.

Yuri just turned to him and gave him that signature goofy grin, speaking with so much sass it was unreal, "Yep. I'm nefarious."

"Man, decidin' to rebel? This has turned out pretty troublesome."

That sentence made me turn to Raven who was now more focused on the wall than Barbos… I had to wonder how he meant that. I knew Alexei was pulling Barbos's strings as well… so, rebelling against the Don… or Alexei… which does he mean? Or does he mean troublesome for himself? He is a top member of Altosk and a captain of the Knights…

"You've got a big mouth, brat," Barbos said as his men began to surround us, causing us all to take arms as Barbos watched on amused, "You would dare oppose me? I thought I told you before that next time you wouldn't get off so easily."

Yuri wasn't amused anymore, "All the better for us to tear things up!"

(What is this? Little Red Riding Hood, Vesperia edition?!)

"Take them down!" Barbos ordered his men, but some loud explosions could be heard making everyone turn towards the window. Seems the front lines decided it was time to start.

That made Barbos so happy, he got up from his seat in the excitement, "Haha, the fools have started to march! Now that meddlesome Don and the Knights will destroy each other!"

"He did this to destroy the Union and to eliminate the Don…!" Karol said a bit angrily, as if he just barely realized that.

Estelle took on a worried tone though, "If the Knights are destroyed, who will protect the empire? Ragou, why would you…oh!"

"Of course…" Rita butted in to voice Estelle's realization, "he's going to weaken the Imperial Knights so that the Council can step in and control the empire."

Raven decided to add on as well, "So, the Blood Alliance will seize control of Altosk and reign over The Union, then."

I blinked stupidly in thought, (Yeah, that's no good for either Raven, or Schwann…)

"Oh my…" was all Estelle could get out in concern.

The Knight and the Union going down together… it's just as Flynn said," Yuri threw in a bit too late as Estelle ran over towards the window.

Barbos just scoffed at us as he watched the Knights and the Guilds marching towards each other, "Hmph, so what if you know now? No matter what you do, you won't be able to stop the battle!"

Yuri just smirked, "Hmm, we'll see."

I smirked also as I noticed a familiar person in the middle of the advancing line, "Oh yeah, cause I see a familiar mop of orange hair, and she's more a nut shell than I am… I got a feeling this 'battle' will end pretty soon."

Barbos just turned to us, "And your existence comes to an end here!"

I rolled my eyes, "Oh come on… couldn't you think of something more original? That's so cliché…"

The familiar white horse thing (Although… I think I once heard in either the game, manga, or anime that those are considered horses….), began to ride from the plain ends into the center of the battle line towards the familiar mop of orange hair.

Yuri just grinned as he spoke, "Damn it, he's too late!"

I grinned as well, "Fashionably late, but just because the line is about 15 feet wide doesn't mean it's 'too late'… unless the archers and mages have done massacres before the front lines could clash… but I haven't heard any further explosions."

"Flynn?" Estelle said wide eyed as she stared at him, watching him hold up the letter shouting something we couldn't hear from up here.

The Don walked over and took the letter, speaking to Flynn causing Barbos to grumble angrily, "Ragou, you fool. You didn't keep up your end of the bargain."

"Don't hurt me…!" Ragou shouted as he cowered near the wall.

"Damn…!" Barbos shouted angrily as one of his men grabbed a nearby gun looking weapon and began t aim it at Flynn.

"Yuri! They're aiming at Flynn!" Estelle shouted, making me want to fall over, (Way to state the obvious princess…)

Soon, a hammer was flying through the air and hit the guy with the gun in the head, and Karol basically hopped up in victory, "Got 'im!"

"Oof, that hurt just watching… Do it again!" I said happily at baby boy making him rub the back of his head.

"Nice shot, Karol!" Yuri said in praise as well. Though while we were praising Barbos managed to grab the 'gun'/'fireball' shooter thing… I'm just going to call it a fire gun (No, not a torch, there's a difference…).

"You brats think you can stop me?!" Barbos shouted as he fired a fireball out of the fire gun at us, causing us all to scream and scatter about the room. His men got blasted away in the process, poor guys… meh, I honestly don't feel so sorry for them this time; like Yuri said, even a saint has limits…

I looked around and something seemed off… where was Ragou?! I looked around and the weasel was crawling down the steps! I was so tempted to grab him and throw him in front of another blast as a human shield… but right now…ugh… can't do that, Yuri has to kill him…

Yuri looked to all of us and shouted, "Get out of here. Head for the exit."

Estelle looked at him in worry, "Yuri, no, it's too dangerous!"

Rita began to charge up an arte herself, "It should take time for the aer to recharge. I'll try and stop him before then…"

(Yeah, except, Hermes blastia are faster and better than normal blastia…other than their aer consumption and usage…) I wanted to tell her so badly…

"Now!" Karol shouted as if ordering Rita to fire, though she wasn't done casting.

Barbos aimed at us all once again, "You're too late!"

Rita's eyes widened in disbelief, "No! It charged up too quickly!"

Though before Barbos could pull the trigger, a huge silhouette passed ahead, a spear smashing the fire gun in two, causing it to explode in Barbos's hand, knocking him on his back as he stared at the figure of our 'Dragon Rider' and 'his' 'Dragon', "Wh-what the hell…?!"

"What's that?" Raven asked interested and at the same time in shock.

"Oh, so you're back for more, dragon freak!" Rita said angrily as she began to charge up her fireballs.

Yuri turned to her with a serious scowl, "Rita, knock it off! Our enemy's over there…!"

"My enemy is this dragon freak!" Rita shouted angrily as she stopped casting.

I turned to her with a harsh gaze, "OH GOD! SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT THAT RIGHT NOW! CAN'T YOU EVEN READ THE SITUATION HERE?! I UNDERSTAND BLASTIA IS IMPORTANT TO YOU, BUT IS IT REALLY MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE LIVES OF YOUR FRIENDS?!"

Yuri turned to both of us with a harsh gaze as well, "Both of you, leave it alone for now!"

Rita and I turned away from each other with a huff, frustration pumping through my veins… which reminds me… how are we gonna get to Ghasfarost if Kairi and I don't hitch hike with Yuri? And Ba'ul is pretty damn small… Fuck…

"Humph," Barbos just scowled as he got up, holding a new sword that… I don't even know where he grabbed that out from, "I'm gonna make you wish you hadn't done that!"

And with that he began to fly, "What? He can fly?!" Karol said in shock as we watched him go airborne.

It made me grumble and roll my eyes, "So says the guy that's fixing to run away…"

Raven just sassed lowly as well, guess he heard me, "Ooh, so the admiral's abandoning his ship alone?"

With a wave of his mystical aqua blastia sword, he flew off into the distance… like a fucking fat, slightly majestic unicorn (…Pffttt I always wanted to say that!)!

Our Dragon rider began to try to give chase causing Rita to stop staring at where Barbos was a moment ago before he magically warped away into the distance cause he's 1/109th part unicorn, and give chase herself in her anger, "Ah! Get back here you freak! Think I'm just gonna let you get away?!"

Though she got blocked off by Yuri running towards the window first, "If your going after him, let me come with you! We're a little short on wings around here."

Rita just stared at him with wide eyes and a dropped jaw as she shouted, "Are you crazy? This jerk's our enemy!"

I turned to her with a scowl, "Haven't you ever heard the phrase, 'The enemy of my enemy is a friend'?"

"No matter what happens, I've gotta catch that guy… Come on!" Yuri asked a bit pleadingly, causing the dragon to lower to let his get on, "Yes! Thanks!"

The Dragon began to slowly rise and Karol looked on with wide eyes, "Wait! What about us…?!"

Yuri turned to him with a slight grin, "This guy's overloaded enough as it is!"

A white/reddish-brown silhouette ran past all of us towards the window as the dragon kept moving away, "Well, I don't weigh anything! Please…I-I want to go and help, please!"

I blinked dumbly as Kairi began to plead with them, wondering what was going on, " _Kairi?! What gives?!_ "

" _I just want to make sure they'll be safe! If they go together, there's no healer with them. I want to help!_ " She replied to me seriously.

I just sighed and gave in, Raven continually giving Kairi odd looks as the others stared at her with wide eyes. Though Yuri wasn't having it as he turned to her with a harsh stare, "No! You stay here where it's safe! You can't fight, remember?!"

"Please!" Kairi cried out again, begging and soon the 'dragon' moved closer to the window causing Yuri to stare wide eyes as the 'dragon rider' offered 'his' hand out for her to grab.

Kairi gripped 'his' hand tightly and was yanked in front to ride side saddle with a huge smile, "Thank you."

"Kairi…" Yuri said a bit strictly.

"S-Sorry… b-but I want to help!" Kairi said as she gripped her bag to her chest tightly.

Yuri just sighed as he turned to the others as Karol shouted out, "But, what should we…?"

"You guys hold down the fort here!" Yuri shouted out to them.

Estelle looked stupefied, "What…?!"

"Stay out of trouble!" Yuri said with a smirk making everyone puff up in a pout, especially the little soon-to-be boss, "Dammit, Yuri!"

"And let Flynn know I'm stepping out for a while with Kairi!" Yuri shouted back just as our 'Dragon' took off…. (Seriously… can I stop saying 'his' and 'dragon'? We all know it's Judith and Ba'ul…. except everyone here…)[*cough* Stop breaking the fourth wall *cough*]

I blinked dumbly, kinda a little pissed of that Kairi got to leave with Yuri, leaving me behind to lead these troops to Ghasfarost… somehow…, "Um… so now what? I don't feel like listening to Yuri after missing out on the opportunity to ride on the back of a dragon. Or to unmask that guy randomly…"

"Oh, so yer jealous then?" Raven said a bit teasingly, making me turn to him with a huge pout, "Damn straight I am! I want to follow after them so we can both catch Barbos and find out who that dragon rider is… I betcha he's some nerd with bad acne and buck teeth! Or Fat Lips! I just gotta know now! Don't story clichés go that you get to see an identity right after the third encounter? Come on!"

"Well, I'll only go so I can beat the hell out of that guy when I get my hands on him!" Rita said angrily.

I turned to her with a nod, "You can beat the hell outta him, AFTER we unmask him!"

That made Karol snicker a bit as I turned to head down the stairs, Raven stopping me, "So, ya know where they're heading?"

I looked at him with wide-eyes now, I still had to play dumb, so I stared empty into space for a while before dropping my head a bit to twiddle my thumbs, "Nope… I was hoping you'd know what's off in that direction…but I guess you're off to go report to the Don now, right?"

"Huh?" He asked a bit curious at to what I was getting at, until a thought clicked in his head, "Oh… right. Well, let's see… in that direction, it would be the dunes that lead towards the beach, but I've been hearing there's a pretty bad cyclone there."

I blinked dumbly at him, "A cyclone?"

"Yeah, fer some reason, it just won't disappear, and when it does, it comes back pretty quickly, not really allowing for anyone to go further," Raven said suspiciously now that he was thinking about that information.

"A cyclone sword…. And a seemingly never-ending cyclone. My women's intuition says that's our best shot! I'm heading that way, whether you all come or not," I said as I turned to everyone else, "So, what are you guys going to do?"

"I'm going with you, if that's the way that Dragon Freak headed. Plus, cyclones shouldn't just continually happen, so odds are, it's tied in with Barbos and him stealing all those blastia cores," Rita said simply.

"True… Ragou did use those cores to create something that could control the weather… whose to say they haven't made one to create tornados," I nodded in approval, looking up at the other two.

"I-I'll come along too to help, too!" Estelle shouted, not sure why she had to shout, we were all within ear shot.

"I'll go too! Yuri may need our help!" Karol shouted as well.

I smiled at everyone and just turned to Raven with a smirk, "Well, thanks for the info. Say hi to the Don for me then~."

With that we all ran off leaving Raven a little speechless, he had orders to keep an eye on Estelle from Alexei, but he couldn't just ignore the fact that he had no further excuse to follow us, for now.

* * *

Though… before we could leave, I had some things to do. "It'll just be a little bit. I need these done before we leave Dahngrest, after we help Yuri out. This dress is driving me nuts…" I replied as I clapped my hands together pleadingly.

"Ugh, fine, whatever, just, hurry it up," Rita argued, angry we weren't heading out at full speed to find the 'dragon freak'.

I sighed happily as I ran into a clothing store that was connected to a blacksmith, guess the blacksmith proves belts, buttons, and custom links, chains and things for certain looks. I looked around for some pants, boots, and a top…. But more importantly… a dark cloak or coat with a large hood… and I was about to order some custom-made bracers…

Why was I doing this? Well… I had made up my mind. If Yuri couldn't kill Ragou… I'd do it myself; and even if Yuri could kill Ragou… I was going to help either by being a second blade, or at least to watch… I wasn't about to let him do this alone, and while Kairi may even consider it… there's no way I could let her get blood on her hands.

I kept breathing hard and heavy at the thoughts… it wasn't so easy… a lot of people may think, 'he's a monster, killing him should be easier than cutting butter with a warm knife'…. But I'm a sane human being… I've never killed anyone in cold blood. Sure, I've played gory games… but never in real life, that was a different matter. I continually had to repeat to myself… that he was just a monster in human flesh… but that wasn't entirely enough… he still was 'human'… albeit the darkest side that humans can exude…so I did the only mental training I could do… tell myself if was something that had to be done… for the sake of the plot… screw that he was a living person, I'll argue logistics and anarchy with God when he has to 'judge' me when I die…

I looked around until I found something that made my jaw drop…. It was Eizen's clothes from the Tales of Berseria… EIZEN'S CLOTHES!.. AND THEY WERE ON SALE! I began to fan girl and grabbed them quickly to try them on. Sad to say….they were a big baggy on me…and the boots were so loose…but I wanted them badly enough!

Though I needed another outfit that wasn't my 'assassin' outfit for the others to see…I looked around till I settled on some clothes in the clearance section, a dark-washed jean short overall (Not suspender) with a gold buttoned front. A white/grey off shoulder shirt that had two white tie backs for the neck like an apron and puffy sleeves that covered my upper arm flab down to my elbow. A navy/gold wrap/corset long open skirt thing with paintbrushes as the bottom running pattern to go around my waist so it looked like a dress… because I knew Estelle would complain if I didn't, some high-top socks that had to be buttoned on the side in a line with a ruffled on top in the color beige, a brown leather dagger holder leglet, and a shoe that was made of jean-like material to match the overall with a small 1 inch white wedge, those came out to about 1250 gald… no accessories, I could add on my own from home if I wanted. Those fit me… but it was just Eizen that needed to be customized… I'd pay for the outfit right now and hide it in my bag and fake that this is what I bought when I went in.

I ran up to the seamstress and began to put down my order, "Excuse me, I know you may be busy. But could you maybe tailor this to my size? The shoes are huge, and everything is baggy, the gloves were falling off, but the bracelet was perfect though…and the coat is really long… Ah, and I'd like a hood custom placed on the coat please! I need it done before the next night! Oh, and I'd like to buy these."

"Er well, there will be fees for rush ordering," the seamstress began, her nose was like Gru, only it was thicker and not thinner! But… I ignored that to keep on going!

My eyes were practically sparkling, "I understand and will pay them, how much is it?"

She grabbed what seemed to be a calculator and began punching holes, "Lets see…the labor for sizing down isn't so much as it is sizing up due to material costs. The hood can be made with the excess material we'd cut from the coat. So, it's all just labor costs and rush hour of 1 day delivery, comes out to about 3,500 gald… oh, but with the addition of the outfit, your total will be 6250 gald."

I smiled and put down the gald with a smile (Hey, what equivalences to 50 dollars for a cosplay was just a win!) as she took me in back to get my measurements and foot size. When she was done, I waved to her, "Thank you so much!"

"Remember to come by around the afternoon, to pick up your order, um," she stared down at her clipboard again, "Miss Banda."

"I will," I shouted to her as I ran into the blacksmith's shop to find the cheapest bracers and a small dagger I could find, because I was going to have him add in a secret blade in each of them and put the dagger in my leglet holder. When I found some, they were like Wonder Woman's bracers…. only longer, and made of what I felt was steel. The dagger was in a set however… you had to buy the 2 daggers, 1 large, and 1 smaller for the dagger holder, and 2 mini like throwing pins I think, it was like those pins that Kuroko from A Certain Scientific Railgun has in the leglets under her skirt. I decided to get it because the large one had a skull on the handle, plus Gibbs rule to always have a knife; smaller one was just a plain gold handle. I ran to the blacksmith to make my request… hoping it wouldn't cost 10,000 gald…. I only had 3,500 gald left and these bracers were only 200 gald…and the set was 1,000 gald.

"Excuse me, sir… I had an interesting request to have these bracers customized," I said with an eager bounce in my step.

He turned to me with a bored expression, he looked like what Hagrid would look like…. If he were a dwarf and not a giant, he had a bit of a Scottish accent, it made me smile, "If ya wan an engravin', tha'll be 500 gald extra…"

I shook my head, "No! Not an engraving! I want to but these daggers, and for my bracers, add in a hidden blade in each of these! Not attached to the bracer like some bracers to, but something that can pop out when triggered to, and go back when triggered as well! That's why it's called a hidden blade~!"

Didn't his eyes light up at that notion, "Well tha sure is new!" He rolled his chair to his desk and began to look at the schematics he had for those bracers and began to trace those onto another piece of paper really fast, "Hmmm, I'd have to design some sort of spring trigger… hmmm… that may work… or… hmmm. Oh ho! I have to try that!"

"Errr, so, uh? Other than that, I kinda need these done before the tomorrow night…" I said a bit weirded out.

He turned to me with wide eyes, "Well now, tha is a challenge! I accept!"

I blinked dumbly, "Er, thank you?"

He turned back to his desk of drawings, "Let's see, yer total will be 1,200 gald!"

I blinked at him dumbly again, "Um, and the labor costs?"

He laughed his head off, "Oh, no fee! This is going to be an adventurous build! I do so love a good challenge! Oh! I can guarantee ya, it'll be the best bladed bracer ya've ever seen!"

"Oh, okay, Thank you. My name's Liana Banda, I'll put down my order as Miss Banda," I said happily.

He then turned to me with wide eyes, "Oh ho~! Yer the woman who was wanted at 50,000 gald!"

"Er… yeah… but they kinda removed that now," I said with a mix of a nervous smile and a pout.

He huffed angrily, "Hmph, bastards should know tha hurts the pride! I was so looking forward to seein' ya go higher!"

"Thanks," I said with a smile as I began to get out my gald pouch. Though he held out his hand, "Oh no! This one's on the house now Miss Banda!"

"Ummm…" I said wide eyed, "Ya sure?"

He shook his head with a toothy grin, "Aye! As sure as the sun will rise~ lassy!"

I bowed my head down, "Well thank you! I'll be by tomorrow afternoon!"

"Don'cha worry! I'll have her all dolled up by the time ya return!" He shouted out with a wave before rolling to his desk again to sketch. And I ran out of the building to meet with the others, "All done, they didn't have anything my size…so they're having to tailor it. It should be done by tomorrow though."

"If you don't have anything else to do, let's just go," Rita pouted along with Karol.

And we all headed to the main entrance, where I once again apologized to go buy a few things with the 3,500 gald I had left. Mainly gels. Then we headed out towards the dunes.

* * *

Sand and wind… that was the only way to describe this place. It's like being in the dessert… only on the other side there's a beach. Plus… once we crossed the bridge to this place… the sky changed from red afternoon sky to a darker one. Seems we passed through whatever barrier keeps Dahngrest's atmosphere either afternoon or night depending on time of day.

Rita casted fireballs at the Horse Raptors that flew above as none of us could reach them, so we could focus on the Blood Alliance members on the ground. Though… there were so many Horse Raptors and only one mage to handle them all… so some were getting frustrating.

"GAH!" I shouted as one managed to slash at my back, "Hey come on! This dress may be hideous, but it's not like I can repair it right now!"

"Gyah!" Karol said as he rolled and dodged one; Estelle looked up in concern as she healed both me and Karol, "We need some help, Rita can't handle them all!"

Suddenly a volley of arrows rained down on the Raptors making them dissipate and drop items. I turned behind us and saw Raven running up to us, out of breath, "W…Wait for…me."

"What are you doing out here, old man?" Rita asked a bit upset.

He raised a hand to signal to let him catch his breath before speaking, "Don has me goin' after Barbos too. So, I'm taggin' along."

"Huh? Why?" Karol asked curiously and suspiciously.

I shook my head a bit before talking, "Alright, you work with Rita on dealing with those flying spawns of hell, and you can join in."

"Huh?!" Karol said turning to me with wide eyes.

"Rita can't handle all of them on her own, having two people clearing them out is better than one," I replied before I turned forward to go out before turning to Raven again, "Say, Raven…."

"Yeah?" Raven asked curiously.

"You said there was this bad cyclone… but what's that?" I asked as I pointed out towards Ghasfarost.

He blinked a few times before it came into view, "Now that…. That's new…"

"Let's head for it! If anything, we should be able to see things from above," I said determined. We needed to get there to provide support! So, we made a mad dash for it… considering the number of Blood Alliance members kept increasing, we all came to the same conclusion…this had to be their HQ.

We all charged the front door… only to find it was locked…. The sky was getting brighter so, it wouldn't be as dangerous as climbing it in the dark of the night.

I looked around and noticed the ladders and sighed deeply, "Guess we're climbing up… Raven you lead the way and Baby Boy you're after him…"

Raven and Karol both turned to me with a dumb look, "Huh? Why me/us?"

I frowned at him big time, "Because you and baby boy aren't looking up our skirts! Now, boys first!"

Rita and Estelle turned to me with wide eyes and gave the boys scowls as we well, guess they didn't consider that possibility at all till now. To which the boys sighed and climbed, dealing with the Blood Alliance Members until we all got up there, Raven being a bad ass going from sword to bow, Rita shot fireballs at the Horse Raptors that were incoming, and Karol…. Karol and Estelle just were on standby as I finished climbing up the ladder, "Anybody check the door yet?"

With two more fireballs Rita just triumphantly declared, "There, that's the last of 'em!"

We were all about to check the door when a familiar voice rang out, "Huh… Looks like you guys have things under control."

Estelle's eyes lit up as she cried out in a mixture of concern, relief, and bliss, "Yuri!"

She ran over to give him a pat down making Yuri VERY uncomfortable by the looks of it, "Hey, what gives…? Come on, lay off, will ya?"

She looked up at him with half lidded eyes that were just filled with concern, and perhaps something else, her voice laced with a sickly-sweet concern, "Are you okay?! Were you hurt?"

I rolled my eyes, Kairi was certainly going to be jealous if she saw this…. Though… where was she?

"Never been better. You worry too much," Yuri replied to her before turning to all of us with a casual gaze, "I thought I told you all to stay put for a while."

I began to look around, maybe she was still inside with Judy because she didn't want to see that earlier Yusetelle moment. Though Karol pouted big time at Yuri's response, "What do you expect? We were worried about you!"

Rita scoffed and pouted in return, "Hey, just for the record, I wasn't worrying about him."

"I was just pissed you got to ride a dragon," I replied as I waited on Kairi to come out the door, " _Say Kairi. It's okay to come out now, the Yustelle is over. … Kairi?_ "

Raven just slumped over, "Well, I for one was worried sick!"

Before Yuri could reply to that I turned to Yuri with a concerned look, "Y-Yuri…"

"Hm? What's up?" He asked pretty casually.

"…Where's Kairi?"

* * *

Caryn: This is one of those puzzles isn't it?! Where 5 people get on a bus, and only 2 are still there come the next stop and they never exited either! Isn't it?!

Hey, this isn't a horror movie now.

Caryn: So… Drabbles?

Down bitch, I know you're waiting on them, but those won't be till after we leave Dahngrest.

Caryn: *pout*

Though glad I got us to Ghasfarost in 9.2k words… horrible I know, but its not like I know how they got there! Got an exam next week and Practicum the week after, so gonna slow down again…*sigh* At least we'll beat Barbos before New Years, that'll be one resolution done!

Caryn: What were your other resolutions?

*pouts* To lose weight, at least 15 pounds… Haven't lost or gained even 1 pound. Get a Yuri army in Tales of Link… but that shut down…. Sell my bleach/dbz/and tov doujinshis that I don't want anymore… so far only 2 sold... And… to pre-order Tales of Vesperia for the PS4 and get a PS4 also… considering I didn't get much back from my refund, I don't have a job, my brother is stingy, and my parents are even stingier… I still haven't pre-ordered it Q-Q that's why I want my doujinshi's to sell… but no luck.

Caryn: *hands in prayer* May you do better next year.

Screw it, next year's gonna be as bad as this one, I know it Q-Q

Translations for Kairi's Japanese:

Iya (When she screams): No! (Just a casual 'no').

Iyada: No! (Same thing only more to say for one word, though it's mainly a 'no' for doing things than an answer, in other words a rejection of sorts).

Doko sawate?: Where are you touching?

Momu na!: Don't squeeze them!

Hanase!: Let me go!

Chikayoranaide: Don't get closer!

Nani?: What?

Dare? (Da-h-rei, not Dare as in truth or dare): Who?

Next Time: The Tower of Gears Ghasfarost, 'maybe' the Barbos battle, and 'very slim' chance of Ragou's murder XD


	28. 27: The Tiresome Tower of Stai-Gears!

Permanent Note: If you aren't keeping up with the Drabbles, you'll be lost on some things as the chapters progress~ Keep up with that ;D

Please remember, ( ) parenthesis are MY thoughts, _italics are telepathic talk between me and Kairi_

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Tales of Vesperia, Justin, or Caryn. I DO have permission to use Justin and Caryn though. I OWN myself, Kairi, and my work in this fic. That is all….

* * *

Yuri stared at me with wide eyes before scratching the back of his head a bit nervously, "Uh, about that…"

Raven looked at him with wide eyes as well, "Well, is she with ya or not?"

Yuri just looked a little irritated as he growled a little bit back at the old man, "Ch, give me a break here… And when did you just start showing up wherever we go anyway, old man?"

Raven gave him a bored look as he spoke up, "It's like this, see? The Don's havin a fit sayin' there's no way he'll let Barbos make a fool outta him, but I'm the one he sends to do his dirty work."

"What do you guys think you're doing, coming in this way?" Yuri asked with a pout.

Karol pouted and opened his mouth, but I decided to take this one as I gave him a harsh scowl, "Well, the front door was locked, now answer my previous question!"

Yuri scratched the back of his head and mumbled, "That's not the point…"

"She ended getting taken somewhere else in the building," a familiar sultry female voice spoke up as Judy in all her bazonga glory walked over to us.

Everyone turned to stare at her with wide-eyes… well except me and Rita, I've seen plenty of busty women in scantily clad clothing plenty of times in movies, games, and anime; because eye candy is a MUST; and Rita just doesn't give a shit.

Raven however moved closer, his eyes focused on one thing as he spoke dramatically, "…A-and who might this lovely Krityan be? Is she a princess?"

Rita gave him a disgusted look, "Layin' it on a little thick there, old man."

I rolled my eyes, "A little? He's seriously pouring it on… wait, Kairi's what?!"

Everyone then recalled her earlier words and stared at her wide-eyed again; Estelle was the first to turn to Yuri with a concerned look, "Yuri! What happened to Kairi?!"

Yuri sighed as he held out his hand, "This is Judith. We were locked up together… Kairi and I ended up getting taken to separate cells when we got captured on the roof… I told Judy here and she volunteered to help so long as we could get out of our cell. We've been looking for Kairi since we got out, so far, no luck. We were just about to try the next floor."

"Hello," Judith said introducing herself.

Karol just smiled, "Hi, I'm Karol! Thanks with trying to help find Kairi."

Estelle nodded and turned to her with a smile as well, "I'm grateful too. My name's Estellise."

Karol butted in though, "We just call her Estelle."

"Or I call her Pinky and Elley at times so far, I'm thinking of Stella," I added in, making Estelle pout at me.

"Rita Mordio," Rita just said plainly.

"And I am the great…" Raven got out all dramatically until Rita and I butted in to fill in the cloze, "old man."

He turned to the two of us with a huge pout on his face and whined, "It's Raven! R-A-V-E-N! Raven!"

Karol just didn't give a fuck anymore as he spoke, "You have to wonder about people who introduce themselves like that."

I smooshed him between my breasts as I swayed with him in my arms and fussed, "Baby boy~ I'm rubbing off on you already hehe~"

Karol just flailed as Raven gave a huge jealous sigh before returning to thought, "Hmm… that didn't quite have the 'zing' I was lookin' for."

I let go of Karol and responded to my turn, "And I'm Kairi's second cousin twice removed, Liana…. Wait does it count on you if that's what their relation is to you as well?" I said looking at Raven confused.

Raven gave me a blank dumb look, "Huh? Why are ya lookin' at me for?"

"Cause you're older," I just bluntly said making his head drop with an 'How should I know' response.

"I think that'll do for now," Yuri said as a means to wrap up the introductions, I almost expected him to clap his hands to signal that was the end.

Judith just giggled as she now responded, "Hehe… what an interesting bunch of people."

Raven turned to her with a huge silly grin before doing a backflip, "Ooh! I think she likes me!"

"Idiot…" Rita and I said in sync making us both give each other a wide-eyed look.

Estelle though who had been quiet and in thought turned to Judith with a concerned look, "Judith, what were you doing in a place like this?"

(Ara, studious and perceptive she is. Of course… she's only seems this cautious when meeting new women, men seem okay… I have so many theories on why that could be floating my head right now…ah anyway, better try to call Kairi…)

"I came to have a look at the blastia," Judith replied rather quickly.

" _Kairi? Can you hear me? Hey? You conscious? Hey? Come on! Respond! Respond!_ " I called for her telepathically, but no reply was given, which meant either she was WAY top level of this tower…. Or she was unconscious.

Rita turned to Judith with a curious look, "All the way out here? Why?"

Judith looked a little conflicted, but she looked about ready to say, 'to destroy the blastia, durr, "I-"

Yuri stepped up to answer, certainly not wanting Judith's status known, "She was captured while she was on a sort of… research trip."

(Yuri…. Nice save! Though since I already know it won't fool me…. Though even if I didn't know, that raises my flags big time… thank god the group is stupid…)

Rita just looked a little in thought but spoke up regardless of whatever she was thinking, "Yeah, the Kritya do like their research…"

Judith just lightly chuckled as Estelle butted in now to talk to Yuri, "Were you able to locate your aqua blastia?"

Yuri gave a small sigh, "Nope, not this time either."

Karol turned to look up at the tower, "I wonder if it's somewhere here in this tower…" As he squinted to the top of the tower, his expression quickly changed to fear as one of Barbos's soldiers descended from above swinging down at us causing Karol to shriek, "Waaah!"

Karol, Rita, and I ran to one side, to which baby boy fell over, while Raven, Yuri, and Judith moved back on their end, Estelle just stood there unfazed by what just happened and was caught like a deer in headlights.

"Damn!" Yuri shouted as he charged at the soldier whose focus was on an unprepared Estelle.

As the soldier prepared to swing, an arrow pierced through the soldier's thigh causing him to fall a bit forward as a blur of blue and yellow ran past Karol and me to slash at that same leg, making the soldier lose balance, and finally was knocked unconscious with a strike to his chest plate. And there in all his glory, was Flynn Scifo, who turned to Estelle with concerned eyes, "Are you all right?!"

"Flynn?!" Yuri asked surprised, his eyes as wide as I've seen 'em, his face almost made me laugh... how to describe this… it was very baby like… like a baby seeing something new for the first time, it was both adorable and laughter inducing at the same time, ah how Kairi would gush if she had seen it…

As quickly as his surprised face came, it ended as he put a hand to his hip and stared at Flynn a bit seriously, "What's a knight lieutenant doing out here all alone?"

"He's not alone, dumb ass!" a familiar female voice called as we all looked up to see Caryn giving Yuri a harsh scowl.

Flynn just casually responded, though I'm sure they'd bromance argue if Estelle wasn't present between the two, "We're short on manpower, and we don't know what kind of dangers lie ahead."

Estelle turned to him concerned, "Are things going well back on the battlefield?"

Flynn nodded, "The Don told everyone the truth, so they settled down. There's no longer any worry of conflict. We have secured Ragou and his subordinates. In addition, the Union has suppressed the mercenaries. Barbos is all that's left."

His expression then changed to concern as he spoke to Estelle, "Your Highness, it's dangerous, so please stay here with Yuri, Caryn, and the others."

"Oi~ Don't speak as if I'm not here!" Caryn pouted down at him with a whine.

Those words just made Estelle a bit mad as she pouted, "It's too dangerous to go on your own! We'll go with you!"

Flynn just shook his head, "I cannot allow it!"

"Oi~ We going, or not?" Caryn shouted down with a pout.

Yuri walked over to Flynn, his expression serious again, "Hold on, we've got all sorts of reasons to go after Barbos, too. We're not stopping after coming this far. Besides, I'm pretty sure Estelle's going to follow you no matter what you say."

"Yuri…" Estelle practically said with curious eyes, possibly trying to see if there was hidden hints to jealous in that.

"Plus that, and this guy let Kairi get taken elsewhere in this tower," I butted in pointing at Yuri, making Flynn fume and glare at Yuri, "Yuri!"

Caryn even shouted down, "Yuri, you ass!"

Yuri turned to me and Flynn with a huge pout, "Huh?! You guys make it sound like I just handed her over on a silver platter! I tried to get him to put us together in the same cell, but Barbos insisted she get put elsewhere."

"Why would he want her elsewhere?" Estelle said in worry.

"That's what I'd like to know…," Yuri said as he peered up at Caryn who was glaring at him angrily, "Have you guys checked that floor?"

"Every inch, Kairi's not on this floor… but we can't figure how to go any higher," Caryn replied down with an angry pout.

Flynn sighed after he thought for a bit, "Fine, then let's go together. We're short on time, and it'll be safer this way."

"Are we finished talking? Then let's get going, Kairi won't just appear if she's by herself," Rita spoke up as we all agreed and headed to the ladders to climb. Ignoring Raven speaking to Duke in private. Ah but first…

"Men first, unless you wish to see my fat ass in your face…" I said with a pouting scowl making the guys climb up first and all us females afterwards.

* * *

-*- Just Use Both -*-

Yuri: …

Karol: What's up Yuri? Is something wrong with your weapon?

Liana: Want me to lend ya one of the old ones?

Yuri: No, I was just thinking about how different axes and swords feel to use…

Repede: *Whine?*

Estelle: Ah, you use both swords and axes, don't you.

Yuri: Yeah, my artes change depending on which I use. It's not a problem or anything, but…

Karol: Hmmm… Well I think you look cooler when your using axes, Yuri. It makes you look stronger, too.

Liana: It's more intimidating than stronger….

Repede: *Woof!*

Estelle: Really? I prefer Yuri when he's using swords, myself.

Liana: *mutters* So does Kairi…

Judith: You should just use one in each hand.

Yuri: !

Liana: Oh my god! That'd be so damn epic!

Yuri: Give me a break…

* * *

-*- Together Again -*-

Raven: I can't believe I made that kind of mistake! I should have moved right then! Damn it!

Rita: Somebody shut this old man up!

Liana: Seriously…

Estelle: What 'mistake' did you make?

Raven: Oh, you sweet girl, thank you for listening. If I'd just met that Krityan hottie before Yuri, the two of us would be off together just…

Rita: Ha! *smacks Raven*

Raven: !

Karol: Whoa! Go easy on him, Rita!

Rita: You got a problem?

Karol: Uh-uh.

Yuri: I guess the old man couldn't care less about me…

Estelle: Ummm… well I'm glad you weren't hurt, Yuri.

Yuri: *pouts* Heh. Thanks.

Liana: *mutters to self* The one who'd really worry about you being hurt is Kairi though…

* * *

Once we reached the third floor I stared at the frozen gears… we'd need to move them. I had to hope the group could figure it out… I was having a hard time trying to think on what excuse to make or hint to show that those gears were important if they didn't…

Karol, like the good boy he is noticed as well as he stared at the gear, "…The gear's stopped. … It looks like it's not moving because the gear's teeth are out of alignment. I think it might move if we put some energy into it."

"Well, we needn't waste energy on moving strange gears," Yuri threw in as he began to walk past.

I turned to him with a dumb look…. (We need to move those gears though! Think Liana Banda, think!)

After a quick battle with a Raptor we began to head towards the stairs. At least until Rita stopped us, she had been in thought since the battle started, "So you use a spear too…"

Judith turned to her curiously, "Oh, do you know someone who also uses a spear?"

It was Rita's turn to turn away, frustration in her tone and on her face, "Eh, well not quite. It just reminds me of some jerk."

"Are you talking about that dragon rider?" Karol asked curiously.

Caryn gave him a goofy grin, "No, she means Yuri here."

Yuri turned to us with a pout, "Hey."

Rita just ignored the banter and continued and looked at Yuri with strict, expecting eyes, "Yeah… Hey, don't you have something you need to tell me?"

Yuri just looked confused, the guy was better at acting than me at times, "What? Me?"

Rita slightly nodded but kept her gaze, "Yes. So where is that dragon freak now?"

"We got separated up on the roof. I'm pretty sure he wasn't hurt too badly…" Yuri answered giving her a casual gaze despite her interrogative one.

Rita just clenched her fist, "Good, because I can't very well beat him up if he's already injured!"

I slumped over and muttered enough for everyone to hear, "Again with the roof… just what went down there anyway?"

Raven of course ignored it and continued with his programed dialogue, "Whoa whoa, that's the whole reason you came here?"

I turned to Raven along with Rita, though my glance was more curious… (he's been speaking perfectly good English for a while… is that Raven talking or Schwann, or Damuron? Which is which with speech patterns?!)

Rita of course shook her head before adding onto the conversation, "No! I also can't forgive this Barbos guy for what he did! Abusing blastia like that! Has he no shame?"

Yuri turned to Estelle, though he was obviously still talking to Rita, "That's your reason for taking the princess to such a dangerous place? Flynn, why didn't you stop her?"

Flynn looked over as he walked up, "Sorry. We missed each other in Dahngrest as Caryn and I headed out first."

Yuri lightly sighed, "So she rushed out after you two without thinking?"

"Not quite," I said with a bored tone (More like, she couldn't stand the thought of you being alone with Kairi…).

Estelle now pouted as she answered, "That's right. Caryn and Flynn aren't to blame. Neither is Rita. I decided to come on my own. I couldn't let you go all by yourself, Yuri. Also, there was no way I could ignore someone who has harmed so many people."

I rolled my eyes (PS3 version still, it seriously does give us more Yustelle than you'd think….).

"I agree. Very well said," Judith said almost mockingly, I had to wonder if she was jealous now too (Let the Yudith ship sail, just kidding).

"Your Highness…" Flynn sighed somewhat sadly, though his cheeks got pink a bit as Caryn walked over besides him, though I couldn't see why.

Yuri just shrugged a bit before turning to Karol, "Captain Karol, don't let me down! I'm counting on your skills!"

Karol just confidently smirked as he replied with a fist pump, "Yes, of course! Come on, let's go take that jerk to school!"

"Old school or new school?" I asked with a smirk making Karol rub the back of his head sheepishly causing Caryn to laugh a bit.

I decided to walk by with the group as Yuri talked to Judith about keeping her identity secret from everyone… kinda pointless since I already knew, but since it fools the others, I guess it's okay… (though seriously, the game drops so many hints that she'd the dragon rider to the group… that they never pick up on it… shows they're not the brightest…)

I looked up and stopped… (I forgot the excuse for the gears! Ugh! I don't want to be walking up and down these stairs all day! I can barely stand going up them! Why isn't there an elevator down here?!)

…

(Wait a minute…. How do the guild members get around then? There's no way they climb the stairs to the top all the time… there has to be a hidden elevator that goes down since the other elevator on that final floor only goes up…. I'm going to find that elevator even if I have to tear apart this tower!)

"Liana, dear, ya comin'?" Raven asked making my eyebrow raise… (seriously… which one uses that hippish modern lingo, and who is the semi-proper…. Because Schwann is overly proper, I couldn't see him talking modern without some polite terms for higher ups… this has to be Raven… and the regular talk is… Damuron? I guess…) I shrugged and just followed, trying to think of an excuse for these gears.

* * *

-*- Touchy Subject -*-

Raven: Ya think we might cut down on the battles a bit? This old man can't take it fer much longer!

Karol: Really? We haven't been fighting any more than usual…

Raven: Yeah, but keepin' up with your youthful pace is killin' me!

Liana: It's probably the stairs getting to ya… I know they'll get to me eventually…

Raven: Liana dear, yer younger than me, how can ya get tired that easily?

Liana: Yes, I'm younger…. but I'm a fat-ass, that's why.

Caryn: *pouts* You're not that heavy for your body type Lian…

Flynn: Caryn is right. You shouldn't put yourself down like that.

Liana: *pouts* I'm not putting myself down, I'm telling the honest truth!

Yuri: Perhaps we should go at the pace of someone older and slower?

Raven/Liana: Who're ya callin' older an' slower?!

Yuri: !

Judith: Don't worry, you're young and full of life.

Liana: Nope, soon I won't be…

Raven: Ah yes, I'm glad you understand me at least, Judith honey…

Karol: He was the one who called himself an old man…

Yuri: Cut them some slack, Karol. People their age get sensitive about these things.

* * *

-*- Repede and Judith -*-

Judith: Is he also a member of your party?

Yuri: Yeah, he doesn't get along too well with people, though. Don't let it get to you.

Liana: Although he seems to get along with Kairi more than well enough…

Raven: Yeah, he was licking her face and rubbing on her sides, I figured he'd be more playful.

Yuri: Not Repede…to some extent I guess.

Judith: I'm Judith. Nice to meet you.

Repede: *Whine*

Estelle: Hey… Why is he letting Judith pet him?

Raven: Maybe the little pup's a fan of pretty girls?

Estelle: *pouts and moves closer* B-but I'm a pretty girl too…

Repede: *moves away*

Judith: My my.

Estelle: …Why doesn't he like me?

Caryn: Hmmm, maybe a lack in proportions in the upper regions?

Liana: Nah, that ain't it, I'm stacked to high heaven and he doesn't come near me. I think it may have to do with what's internal than external… I think…

Estelle: *pouts*

* * *

-*- A Weirdo among Weirdos -*-

Estelle: Your spear fighting is fluid and your footwork is amazing! I love watching you fight, Judith.

Liana: Another creepy 'watching you' moment… *backs away*

Judith: Oh, it's my pleasure!

Liana: And she enjoys it!

Yuri: Geez Liana, calm down. Although, aren't all Krityans more of the nerdy, scholarly type? More indoors than outdoors people?

Liana: Stereotypical much?

Estelle: Yuri's anti-book comments aside, is it true that the Kritya don't fight in battles?

Judith: It seems most of us don't like fighting very much.

Estelle: So you're an exception?

Yuri: A weirdo among weirdos, then.

Liana: *smirks* Just like me!

Judith: How strange. I've always thought it was normal to fight someone who was threatening you.

Yuri: Yeah, true.

Liana: Ditto.

Estelle: Really? Is that normal?

Yuri: Sure, it's normal.

Judith: Totally normal.

Liana: Mama said knock you out.

Estelle: I-I see…

* * *

-*- Finding Kairi -*-

Yuri: Hey, Liana.

Liana: Hm?

Yuri: Think you can telepathically call Kairi, so we can find where she is.

Liana: …. Not possible.

Yuri: What is?

Liana: I tried earlier, I got no response. Either she's way higher up and out of range, or she's unconscious. Even if I could get her to respond, I'm not sure she'd know where she is either… It's not like I can figure distance between us when I call her.

Yuri: Figures it's not going to be easy…

* * *

Once we reached the top, I sighed at the sight of the folded-up ladder that needs to come down… this is why we needed those gears to turn. I certainly was NOT going down those stairs after we fight Barbos.

"Huh? It looks like a dead end…" Estelle said as she looked around.

"No, it's not. Look! There's a ladder," Judith said as she pointed towards the ladder to get everyone's attention.

Karol sighed at the sight of it too, "But we can't use that to get upstairs."

Raven then chimed in a bit too cheerfully, "Maybe there's somethin' we could do to bring it down, eh?"

I sighed as I turned to Rita, I didn't get along with her most the time, but for now, "Rita… We're the brains, lets figure this out…"

Rita just walked passed me to check on the ladder, while I looked at the tube that fills with aer, "I wonder if this is some sort of hydro powered ladder. Something has to go through this tube to be powering the place, I guess…" I touched the tube and immediately pulled my hand back as I gagged.

"Lian!" Caryn shouted as she ran over to rub my back to keep me from puking.

I coughed out, "Definitely not water!"

Rita came over to investigate the tube now, "We need aer."

"Aer?" Estelle asked curiously.

Rita nodded, "Yes, she just now confirmed it's used for aer. If this conduction tube were supplying aer, the ladder might be able to move down."

"I have a name, you know," I spoke up with a whine.

"How do we make that happen?" Karol asked Rita, waiting for a reply when she turned to him with a frustrated look, "How about you try figuring out things yourself for once?"

He just pouted and gave her a tiny cocky smirk as he replied, "You don't know, do you?"

"…You're not going to get it until I really hit you for once, eh?" Rita menaced, making Karol freeze up and lose the cocky look.

I gave her a tiny glare, "Hit him and you know what's going to happen, don't you? Or do you need a refresher? And while I'd wholeheartedly agree to let baby boy solve a mental puzzle as a form of assessment… I don't think with the circumstances right now, oh, ya know, with Kairi being elsewhere, that we dilly dally too long."

Yuri just walked between us and scolded as he looked between me and Rita, "Cut it out, you two. Let's go and look for some way to get up there."

"…Gears," I replied as I stared down at the frozen gears below.

"Huh? What is it?" Yuri asked as he turned to me curiously.

"Remember… some gears weren't moving. What if it's like… a closed faucet, and you have to turn the knobs to get it to turn on," I replied as I looked down at the gears still.

Karol brightened up as I gave an example that he could understand for once, "So then, we just have to turn those gears!"

"Maybe, maybe not, it's worth a shot," Yuri said as he turned to the others.

I slumped down, "Well, I'm not moving down there. Climbing up the stairs is painful enough… I don't want to go down them only to have to come back up again…"

"I'll wait with her here," Caryn replied as she turned to Flynn, who nodded at her in acknowledgement, confidence in her eyes.

And so, the others ran off too go deal with the gears below as I sat waiting with Caryn. Since we wiped out the soldiers and monsters up here, we didn't have to worry about being attacked, at least not until the ladder would come down probably making soldier's curious and making them swarm down here. I watched as the aer filled the tube, level by level depending on how many gears there were. Surely enough the group was back up here to turn the final gear, and the ladder came down.

"So, the gears were holding back the aer," Rita said as I got up to dust myself off, so we could go.

"I was observing from above, seems that the tube has those dark rings camped around it. It's like a level, so I'm guessing, if we go to the next room and the tube has like 3-4 rings around it, it's the number of gears we need to turn as to the top of those rings is the level in which the aer rises," I said as I pointed to the tube rings on the top and bottom of the stair case, making everyone stare at me stupidly.

"What?! Seriously, why does everyone give me that dumb look every time I reply in all seriousness and detail?!" I fumed making everyone turn away with pink cheeks. Guess my little bad attitude demeanor was so much, they forget that I'm a 26 year old and a university student!

Regardless we kept pressing on, my chest urges making me detour a bit to grab the weapons, especially the Blue Dragon sword for Yuri, that combo plus and combination was good for him to have! The Kurama, Rivet Belt that I swiped earlier, and Wizard Horn were good too.

* * *

-*- After Barbos! -*-

Estelle: Flynn, you didn't take Sodia and the others with you?

Flynn: That's right. I left Ragou's arrest in their hands and came here with Caryn.

Rita: So you ditched your platoon and rushed off all by yourself? Some lieutenant you are.

Caryn: He's actually a very good lieutenant you know!

Yuri: It's just like him to do that, though.

Repede: Woof!

Flynn: Barbos will be judged by the laws of the empire. To that end, the Knights have an obligation to capture him. And yet, here you are doing our job for us. I can't accept that.

Rita: You've got an excuse for everything, don't you?

Liana: Let us have some fun for once, why don't ya!

Yuri: That's what being an Imperial Knight is all about.

Flynn: …

* * *

-*- Awkward Atmosphere -*-

Karol: Uh… Do you need a gel or anything?

Flynn: *smiles* No, thank you. You shouldn't worry about me. Instead, keep an eye on your surroundings. You never know where an enemy might be hiding.

Karol: O-oh… Y-yeah, I'll be careful…

Rita: Why's Karol acting so stiff?

Yuri: Yeah… something's up.

Liana: A knight, a guild boy, how often do the two coincide?

Estelle: Karol certainly does seem awkward around Flynn.

Judith: Well, who can blame him? Anyone would be nervous their first time getting this close to a knight.

Flynn: Right now, I'd like you to just see me as someone you can trust to have your back.

Judith: Really? That's great!

Yuri: Judy, are you REALLY nervous?

Liana: Survey says, yes…

Caryn: They just needs to get to know him a little more. Flynn might be very formal, but he can be pretty goofy and a huge sore loser.

Liana: Hehe… wait… Yuri says he's never beaten Flynn at anything… yet YOU beat him at something?!

Yuri: !

Caryn: Mhm, I always beat him in Monopoly.

Estelle: Monopoly?

Flynn: *blushes*

* * *

-*- Monopoly -*-

Raven: So, what's this about a Monopoly?

Liana: ! It's… a board game we play where we're from. It's very fun and requires businesslike thinking and cunning. Though, I probably could wipe the floor with Caryn at that game big time!

Raven: And where are ya from?

Liana: None of your business, ya old fart!

Yuri: Settle down, we can discuss this later, we need to find Kairi first.

Liana: Gotcha…

* * *

-*- The Tower of Ghasfarost -*-

Yuri: The bottom of the tower looked ancient, but the top is new…

Judith: It would seem someone built it onto a structure that was already here.

Karol: I had no idea there were any towers in this area. I wonder when it was built?

Raven: Well, judgin' by how new the top looks, I'd say it was pretty recent.

Estelle: Do you think Barbos built it?

Karol: The Blood Alliance is one of the bigger guilds, but even they couldn't build something like this.

Yuri: Ragou. He must have been putting up the funds.

Karol: Hey, yeah. That would make sense.

Liana: I know Ragou's supposed to be like super wealthy since he's been taking from the people… but does even he have enough for this?

Karol: You know, I wonder.

Raven: We still ain't any closer to figurin' out WHY they'd build somethin' like this, though…

* * *

A soldier ran down the ladder we brought down to 'greet' us… I sighed deeply, in the game this was only like 6 floors to go through… right now we barely managed to reach floor 12… how much longer till we hit that elevator?!

I began to slump as I walked up a flight of steps, "Ugh, I'm dying here."

"Would you like to take a break inside the enemies stronghold?" Yuri asked with a bit of a smirk.

I shook my head slowly, "No… ugh, with as big a place as this is, shouldn't there be like some elevators to get soldiers and supplies up quicker?"

Estelle looked in thought, "You're right. I can't imagine them having to go up and down all these floors every single day."

"So, do ya know where this elevator is?" Raven asked curiously.

I whined, "If I knew I'd rush for it, ugh, and still nothing on Kairi either…"

"K-Kairi? Are y-you all talking about the g-girl with long reddish h-hair who was taken to the second to the t-t-top floor?" I heard a shaky man's voice speak up.

We looked around until we saw a scrawny soldier peak out from behind some crates, Rita began to charge up for a fireball and he quickly jumped up and flailed wildly in a panic, "Uwah! P-P-Please don't shoot! I-I'm not an enemy! I-I just want to help!"

Rita stopped charging and gave him a glare, "And just how are you going to help, huh?"

The man was shaking in his armor, he certainly didn't seem fit to be in the Blood Alliance, "E-Easy! I only joined the guild for the pay to support my wife since we have a new baby! B-But I had no idea that the guild was involve in the Black Market, honest!"

"The Black Market?!" Flynn said as he paled at the sheer word.

"The Black Market?" I asked curiously, (figures even in another world those would exist).

He turned to me, his large helmet rustling as he moved, "Y-Yeah! I-I saw and heard that the boss was planning on selling her there as soon as possible! Something about her being 'worth a fortune'. She's being held on the floor right before you hit the top floor roof! I-I have to warn you, it's being heavily guarded! The boss looked pretty serious about it."

"What for though?" I asked more seriously (If he finds out about ANY of her abilities, he's liable to hurt her or find some way to use her to continually gain funds).

He backed up a bit before continuing, his exposed skin was turning red, "W-Well… he said it was 'cause she was beautiful, and that virgins sell for a lot more… and…"

"Figures; cause sex always sells," Caryn said with a disgusted look.

"This is bad, we need to find Miss Kairi, and quick," Flynn replied with full concern.

He nodded, "That's what I figured! A-And I have a new little baby girl! I couldn't stand to think how I'd feel if I was her family!"

"Her father and big brother would be murderous, her eldest sister would be deeply worried, and her second elder sister wouldn't give much of a rats ass; and I'm her cousin and I'm beyond ticked, that's how we'd feel," I replied making him back up a bit more.

"What about her mother?" He asked curiously.

I blinked a bit before sighing, "If she were alive… she'd be deeply angered yet concerned."

The group all gave me wide eyed looks, probably curious on how she died, and wanting to know more about Kairi's family.

"I-I see. W-Well in any case, y-you'd better hurry, or else he'll take her out of the tower! O-Oh, and please… don't tell the boss or the others I'm hiding here…I don't want to be involved in any of this, but he'd kill me if I asked to quit…" He asked a bit pleading.

I sighed, "Deal…how many floors to go to the top though?"

He had hidden behind the crates again before popping out, "O-oh, the next floor should have an elevator to the f-far left on the top of the staircase."

"FINALLY!" I shouted in relief causing some guys on the lower level to hear us and come charging up the stairs, "Fuck, I shoulda kept quiet…"

The man ducked behind the crates again as we dealt with the soldiers, and the others made sure all the gears were turned as we began to climb to the next floor.

"Say… Liana," Estelle asked a bit curiously.

"Hm? What up?" I asked curiously back.

"I was wondering. How did Kairi's mother die?" Estelle asked a little curious yet concern in her tone.

"Yeah, she never really told us anything much about her family," Karol chimed in curiously too.

"Nor have you told us anything about yours too, to be honest," Yuri replied.

I blinked but answered casually, there was no point pussy footing or sugar coating what it was, "She was murdered during a massacre in Kairi's hometown."

"O-Oh," Estelle said silently, in fact that made everyone silent, at least until a pinwheel came into view.

"… What the hell?" I asked as I tried to pick it up, only for the smoke to appear, and I blinked dumbly at the chef as he did his usual intro, "Sooo… were kinda in a hurry, so could ya just hand us the recipe and get lost?"

He did a dramatic anime pose and froze up, "How cruel! And after all I did to create this recipe for you!"

He handed me the recipe, I read the name, and…, "ASDFGHJHL!" I tossed it into the air like I did my last fuck…

"Ah! My recipe!" The Wonder Chef shouted as he grabbed it as it came floating down, "How cruel!"

I looked at him with red eyes, "WHY, HOW, AND WHO EVEN NEEDS A RECIPE FOR A SALAD?! IT'S A SALAD! IT'S NOT ROCKET SCIENCE!"

"Her last fuck just flew out the window," Caryn said as she blinked at me with wide eyes.

"Just leave the recipe and get lost, we've got more important business than to learn to make 'Salad'! Or would you rather I slug ya one?! Begone food thot!" I shouted angrily.

He dropped the recipe and took up another anime pose, "H-HAI!" And with that he poofed away as Karol took the recipe silently, no one sure what to say after that.

So we all just boarded the massive elevator and went to go get Kairi.

* * *

As soon as we got out of the elevator, it was hell. When he said, 'heavily guarded', he meant 'heavily guarded'! We were faced with about 30 men guarding the door on the far right who ran over after seeing the elevator open without 'authorization'.

"Fuck! This is a bit excessive alright," I said as I punched a solider as hard as I could in the gut making him keep over as I raised and connected both hands together to smash down on his neck as hard as I could. Screw being nice, these guys are all Black Market connected, no way I was gonna show mercy.

"Fireball!" Rita casted making a bunch of them fly here and there, some even landed on their heads.

"Luminant Scythe!" Flynn cast making me turn and stare in awe, I forgot this guy can use swords, magic, heal himself and allies, and even could tank…I could see how Yuri couldn't ever beat him before.

An arrow hit a guy in the knee and I cringed as I turned to stare at Caryn who gave me a silly grin and shrug like, 'What did you want me to do?'

"Hell Pyre!" "Woof!" "Photon!" "Cerberus Strike!" "Splash!" "Crescent Moon!" "Nice Aid Smash!" "All my heart!"

I turned to see the others dealt with the remaining soldiers pretty quickly. Why did we even bother joining in when it was that easy?

We all ran to the door to find it locked, Kairi's voice coming from the other side, "You guys! Are you there?!"

"Kairi! Are you alright?!" Estelle shouted on the other end of the door.

"…Eto… uhhh… well…I guess I've been better?" Kairi said in almost an incoherent murmur.

"Stand back," Flynn told everyone as he used his Demon Fang on the door along side Yuri's Azure Edge, and it was blown in and hit the other end of the wall. Flynn ran in, she wasn't in sight as the room was like a Hotel room, with a room to either the left or right and the beds hidden from view.

"H-huh?! What are you?! Wh-Wait a se-" Kairi began to panic, the sounds of chains rattling as Flynn ran in and turned left after the side door.

"Miss Kairi are you alr-WAHHH!" Flynn shouted as he quickly turned away, his face entirely red as he covered his face, "I'M SO SORRY! I DIDN'T MEAN TO! I DIDN'T KNOW! I-I DEEPLY APOLOGIZE!"

Raven began to walk up, "What's the deal? Is she okay or no-"

"UWAHH! P-Please don't come any closer!" Flynn panicked as he held his arms out to keep Raven from advancing any further, his face was red all the way up to his ears.

Kairi's slightly sobbing voice could be heard whining as the sound of chains rattled again, "Just please… hurry up and get out of the room!"

"Y-YES MA'AM!" Flynn said as he turned back to her with his eyes shut tightly and he about faced and ran down the hallway again dragging Raven behind him, falling to his knees and panting heavily as Caryn gave him a pat on the back.

"Guess me and the girls will go in, you guys stay out," I said down to him with a slightly teasing smirk, since I kinda figured what was happening.

He still kept panting to catch his breath from his internal panic, "P-Please do…"

I smirked funny at him and headed into the room, Caryn and Estelle following behind, "Kairi dear, ya okay?"

As we rounded the corner, I saw what I expected to see, Kairi chained up to the wall, hair completely disheveled, and completely naked with her beautiful grace shawl dress torn to shreds by her feet; she had tears in the corners of her eyes when we came into view, "You guys~ so slow~."

"Kairi! Are you okay? They didn't hurt you, did they?" Estelle asked completely concerned as she gave Kairi a pat down.

Kairi sniffled, "Just my dignity…."

"My, that certainly doesn't seem comfortable," Judith said as she walked in.

Kairi gave her a confused look before sniffling a bit, "Huh?"

"Oh, she's Judith, she's-," Estelle began to explain making me butt in.

"Less introductions more chain cutting," I said as I gave the chains one good look, not sure how to cut them open.

"Stand back, hyah," Judith said, making all of us back up as she did two swift movements and the chains came off Kairi's hands and feet, making her slump to the floor and wrap her arms around herself.

Caryn ran over to put a sheet nearby around her, "You okay there?"

She sniffled as she turned to Caryn with a whisper I could hear, "Why… Why were the first men in this world to see me naked, the Blood Alliance? Why does the first guy of the party who gets to see me naked, have to be Flynn? Caryn…. Switch places with me…"

Caryn rubbed Kairi's back to soothe her as she snuggled against Caryn, "I would if I could…. There, there…"

I set the bag down in front of Kairi, "Find something to wear in your bag, they destroyed your dress brutally."

Kairi sniffled, "And it was my favorite one…"

"Kairi," Estelle called out as she sat in front of Kairi, her eyes brimming with concerned, "Did they assault you?"

Kairi's face turned bright red, but she answered, "O-Only a little…. Eto…" she turned to Caryn with a whisper I could hear still, "Are you still considered a virgin, even if Barbos put his finger inside? I don't think he tore my hymen… but asking…"

I slumped, "Yes you're still a virgin. A virgin is someone who's been with a man, whether her hymen is torn or not since she may have used a dildo perhaps and that don't count either, and by being with a man they mean a real-life dong. So, it doesn't count unless it's a real dong inside there, not fingers. You're clear."

"A dong?" Estelle asked curiously.

I slumped again as I looked to her, "Wait till you're 25 years old, then I'll tell ya…if I'm still around."

Kairi continued to rummage into her bag, I continually forgot she had access to her Mabinogi and Love Nikki Inventory…. Which meant she had well over 4,000 articles of clothing, but about 95% of it was too fancy for common use. Even so…5% was still a lot to pick from… guess I gotta step in.

I moved and shoved my way into Kairi's bag too, though I couldn't see anything in it and just yanked out a few clothes here and there part way to see what they could be. Once I saw the familiar sown sakura petals I pulled it out and showed Kairi her 'Sakuramochi Maid' dress from Love Nikki, "Just wear this one."

Caryn of course butted in, "FUCK NO! THAT'S TOO PINK!"

I rummaged again and pulled out the 'Song of Divinity', "This one?"

"STILL PINK!" Caryn argued.

"FINE THEN I'LL GIVE HER THE BROWN VERSION!" I said pulling it out and setting it aside.

"Oh come on Lian, if we're gonna play dress up, ya gotta go all out, like….THIS ONE!" Caryn shouted as she caught a glimpse of beautiful burnt red velour in my hand and yanked out Kairi's 'Sweet Spell' suit making her eyes pop out wide, "HOLY EROS! WEAR THIS ONE! I DON'T CARE THAT IT'S PINK!"

"Oh my, that is rather gorgeous," Judith said with a smirk as she stared at the lingerie typed dress.

"GAH! I'll just wear this one! Leave my clothes alone!" Kairi argued as she yanked out her Love Nikki gear; her 'Warm Memories' dress, 'Snow-white body' hosiery, 'Snowy Wings' shoes, 'Butterfly Fantasy' hair ornament, 'Foam Star' earrings, 'Holy Gloves' gloves, and she styled her hair like her 'Roman Epic' hair.

"Kairi, that's so beautiful…" Estelle said with wide eyes.

I shrugged and yanked out one more thing from the bag, "If you want to go the extra five miles, add this too it," I said as I placed on Kairi's 'Wings of Dawn' on her back, "Now that's pretty."

Kairi's cheeks tinged a little pink, "Isn't it… excessive though?"

"Poppycock! It's fucking epic fairytale shit! Wear it for now!" Caryn said with sparkles in her eyes.

"Yeah, we gotta get Barbos. We can't play dress up here too long despite that Estelle really looks like she wants too," I said giving Estelle a funny smirk as she twiddled her fingers like a child who'd just been caught in the act.

"A-Alright! Lets go get him!" Kairi said with flames in her eyes.

We all exited room to the men's wide eyes at Kairi's new attire. Raven was the first to react, his eyes went wide as he took a few steps forward and stuttered with his face flushed bright red, "H-H-Huh?! A-A-A F-Fairy?! J-Just w-who is that b-beautiful f-fairy p-p-princess with you all?"

"They're cute aren't they! Liana put them on her," Estelle said gushing, no doubt she wanted to try the wings on.

"Wow, I almost didn't recognize her," Karol said with his cheeks tinged bright pink.

"Oh, she's absolutely 'divine', isn't she?" Judith said in a bit of a cheeky way, though the way she emphasized divine kept making raise my brow, especially since Yuri gave Judith odd looks.

Rita turned away, her cheeks from what I saw were pink as well, "W-Whatever, it's just clothes. We already knew she has some noble-like clothes."

Caryn turned to Flynn with a bit of a cheeky stare as well as to Yuri, "Oh, so Yuri and Flynn don't have compliments, how mean."

Flynn shook his head, his cheeks tingling bright red as he slightly turned away, "I-It's not that I couldn't comment. I was just taken aback by her beauty is all…"

Kairi looked to Yuri out of the corner of her eye, not quite set to meet his eyes to gauge his reaction, though when she saw his face, she turned to him with a slight pout. He was his casual self, no pink on his cheeks or anything past the wide eyes he had earlier as he spoke up, "Yeah, it looks good on her."

Kairi slightly frowned, she really wanted to impress him, but I guess the whole 'Noble', 'Divine', or 'Princess' looks aren't to his liking… at least without cat ears…

"Guess that's that, lets head up to find Barbos!" I brought up, making Karol pump up his fist in agreement and everyone else as we all boarded the elevator up.

* * *

-*- Charges -*-

Flynn: *blushing* Um, Miss Kairi.

Kairi: Yes?

Flynn: I-I'd been meaning to ask. I 'm afraid I overheard Miss Liana, is it true that were you assaulted?

Raven: What?!

Kairi: *blushing* Um, well… that's…

Caryn: *sighs* She got fingered, but Barbos stopped before he could tear her hymen, so yes she was sexually assaulted, and yes she is still a virgin.

Flynn: What?! I suppose that's another charge to add to his crimes.

Rita: Oh, let me at him! I'm going to beat the hell out of that creep!

Kairi: *embarrassed*… does everyone really have to say it aloud…

* * *

Once we got to the top, Barbos was there waiting for us, "Back again huh, you stubborn punk?"

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Yuri sassed back, seriously I was here in Terca Lumireis watching two characters going 'Bitch' 'Bitch'.

Rita of course looked wide eyed at the sword as she observed it a bit more compared to last time in the pub, "Hey, the core in that sword! Is that the core to the aque blastia?"

"Yeah, it's gotta be," Yuri said a bit darkly as he now noticed the core as well.

Barbos of course wasn't happy, "These fools don't know when to give up. Capua Nor, Dahngrest, and now all the way to Ghasfarost! They even freed my little jackpot! I've always hated kids."

Estelle of course did her little pointing pose… to me it was more like a rip off, wanna be Phoenix Wright pose, as she scolded, "Barbos, this has gone on long enough. Save what's left of your honor and give up!"

I turned to Estelle with a dumb look, "Does a guy like him even have honor?"

"The Knights will be here before long. Any further resistance is futile!" Flynn shouted.

Rita got into a fighting pose, set to move at any moment, "That's right, you're finished!"

"Oh, this is far from finished," Barbos said as he held up the sword, "I put ten years into building Ghasfarost Spire, and while it stands, nothing can stop me! And with that man and the empire wrapped around my finger, I was able to build my magnificent blastia."

"'That man'…?" Flynn asked himself curiously.

He didn't have much time to think as a shock wave was blown at us. Yuri quickly grabbed me and Estelle under his arms, Flynn picked up Caryn, Rita took Karol's hand, and Raven carried Kairi bridal style as we they hopped with us all in arms down to the next level area to avoid the explosion that followed.

I blinked dumbly up at the spot were standing up earlier, "Holy hell, that was a close one."

Compared to how he'd usually dump us, Yuri set me and Estelle down carefully as we all turned towards the top where Barbos was coming down. Yuri's voice was dark, "You think I'm just gonna let you waste the lower quarter's core like this?"

Barbos landed and smirked, "Oh, it won't go to waste. I'll use this to eliminate Whitehorse, and then I will be leader of the guilds. Then the empire is next! With this power at my disposal, the very world will be mine! And I'll start with you. Be gone, worms!"

I rolled my eyes, "Classic, World is Mine, villain cliché. Seriously, get more original…"

He aimed the sword at us again, and an explosion occurred nearby us, though we all rode out the shock wave until it passed this time.

Flynn mumbled to Caryn who was in shielded in his arms before turning to all of us with concern, "Is everyone all right?"

"You okay?" I heard Raven mumble making me turn to see him and Judith shielding Kairi with their bodies. She nodded just as we all nodded to Flynn.

"That sword is gonna be a problem," Yuri said a bit irritated.

"Problem? Is that thing even legal?" Raven asked as he got up with Judith's help, the two of them in front of Kairi protectively.

"It is very powerful," Judith replied.

"… How do we shut it down without destroying the aque blastia?" Kairi said a bit sadly, though she knew it'd be alright…. At least we hoped so.

"Gah ha ha! The blastia seems be working just fine!" Barbos laughed as he set off explosions all around the area, yet nowhere near us, as though to demonstrate its power.

"What…?!" Estelle said in shock at the sheer power the sword had.

Barbos just looked back to us and laughed at Estelle's expression, "What's wrong?"

"Heh, you haven't won yet," Yuri scoffed at how pathetic this was at watching him blow up the farther area rather than continually attack us.

"All right, playtime's over! Time to wipe Dahngrest off the map, and you along with it!" Barbos shouted as he stared down at us, though the power seemed to lower down as he turned to Kairi with strict eyes, "Seems like I'll have to be careful though. Wouldn't want to completely destroy my little 150 million gald jackpot."

"O-One Hundred and Fifty Million Gald?!" Karol said taken aback at the sheer number.

"I sent her picture around to the Black Market a while ago, got a winning bidder at 150 million. Seems the guy was very eager and desperate to get his hands on her," Barbos said with a smirk making Kairi cower behind Judith.

"And you seriously think we're just gonna hand her over," Yuri said darkly, he was getting angry.

"Ha ha! All set! This is farewell, punks!" Barbos shouted, and I quickly looked up and sighed a breath of relief as Duke came into view.

"Get down," Duke said to us cooly as he raised Dein Nomos and disrupted the power flowing to the sword, causing it to implode as Barbos shouted, "What?!"

Judith and Raven shielded Kairi again, Flynn covering Caryn, the rest of us just ducked down ourselves, Yuri not even bothering to cover anyone as we stared at Barbos and his now broken sword, grateful the core was still intact.

Flynn of course got up quickly to stare at Duke as he walked away, "What was that…?"

Raven just mocked, "What happened to not having any time or interest?"

"Hey, that's…!" Rita said as she caught a glimpse of Duke.

"Rita, never mind that!" Yuri shouted to her as we all focused on Barbos once more.

Barbos tried to fire at us, but it was clear the sword was now useless, "…Piece of crap!"

Yuri just pointed sassily as he spoke up, "Looks like the tables have turned, Barbos."

I stared at him dumbly now, "Yuri… that's too cliché." That earned me a silly grin from Yuri.

Barbos looked disappointed, "…So all that fancy wisdom and the power of the blastia were nothing but a sham…" He then pulled out his regular spiked buster sword thing out of nowhere before continuing, "Should have known from the start that I'd have to depend on my own strength. Take up your swords!"

Raven rubbed his head, "You know, he was so much easier to deal with when he was all drunk on power."

"Yeah, there's nothing worse than an enlightened idiot," Rita preached.

I clapped my hands in worship, "Rita-sama! Teach me your ways of sassiness!"

"I am the only man to stand as Whitehorse's equal in battle. Now you will know the power of Barbos the Stormblast… and his Blood Alliance!" Barbos said, which signaled the start of our battle, but still.

I crossed my arms and devilishly smirked, "Yeah, I've seen the Don fight and kick Yuri's ass around faster than hell. You certainly don't stand as an equal to him, believe me."

* * *

Uwahhh another one done, and still 3 more weeks of college despite this week off.

Caryn: But ya do get this week off :D

Not all of it. I got class on Monday, and even though I got the rest of the week off for Thanksgiving break I got a 7 page paper and some work to get done before the next week. And Thanksgiving we're heading to my aunts this time since no one else comes up here for Thanksgiving.

Caryn: Ugh, bitch gimme that drabble of Flynn time!

Not till Ragou is dead!

Caryn: *sighs* Then kill that sadistic old fart already!

I'm trying…. *sigh*

Not sure how to implement links, so add an https, a :, and two / before the link; but this is Kairi's Love Nikki outfit here: i171 .photobucket (dot com)/ albums/ u285/ lia_080/ IMG_2601. jpg

Since this isn't wattpad, I can't just put in images up top to show… (Should I move and add this fiction to wattpad? Would that be better for everyone? Let me know.)

Next Time: Barbos Battle and Ragou's Murder? (Not sure, but I can try).


	29. 28: The Psychic and the Vigilante

Permanent Note: If you aren't keeping up with the Drabbles, you'll be lost on some things as the chapters progress~ Keep up with that ;D

Please remember, ( ) parenthesis are MY thoughts, _italics are telepathic talk between me and Kairi_

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Tales of Vesperia, Justin, or Caryn. I DO have permission to use Justin and Caryn though. I OWN myself, Kairi, and my work in this fic. That is all….

* * *

With a shout; soldiers, bandidos, and witches came running to the platform we were on, the four glowing green pillars appeared too. I knew fighting the small fries was pointless for now with the bridges up… but, "Go on, get out there, kill 'em! But don't damage the one with wings; she's worth a fortune! Catch her!"

"Just try to take her, I'm gonna take you thugs down," Yuri said seriously as he and Judith charged Barbos to fight him and keep him occupied.

"Give up and receive your due punishment, as the law demands!" Estelle shouted angrily too making me shrug a bit… does she really think the bad guy will just give up after hearing the words 'due punishment as the law demands'?

"I will put an end to your evil dreams," Judith said seriously as well as she kept getting him stun locked for Yuri to wail on him.

Barbos used Hammer Roll to get distance away from the two before scoffing, "You little punks are nothing to me. I'll squash you like bugs. Then I'll squash the Union, and rule the world!"

"That's a nice dream. I'll make sure it doesn't happen!" Yuri sassed making me chuckle as I took out a bandido with a really quick and hard Lariat to the throat.

"Even dreams need a little reality. Otherwise things just end bad," Raven said, which made me tilt my head as I began to evade a witches Wind Blade. I had to wonder of that was a double play, since he knows fully well what Alexei's ambitions are.

"We will stop you, no matter what!" Karol shouted, though he didn't engage enemies head on as he ran about using nice aid smash to help the group, but he did fight if they came too him. Repede just barked as if to agree with Karol's retort.

"Silence! Now know the true power of Barbos the Stormblast!" Barbos cried out, making me fake gag at how cliché that was.

I knocked out the witch who was on my ass with a hard sock to her gut, lifting her off the ground by about 5 inches with the sheer force. I looked and watched as another came running along the bridges…. We weren't going to get anywhere like this without the secret mission completion…but the others will wonder why I'm attacking a pillar and not the enemy…. I spotted another 2 bandidos running along the other bridge as Yuri took out two of them in exchange. (Fuck this…. I gotta take out those bridges…)

I ran to the nearest pillar that didn't have any enemies near it and began to wail on it all I could, earning a shout from Yuri, "Liana! What are you doing?!"

But I ignored, and continued to try taking it down, but come on, these knuckles of mine were no where near as powerful as the 550-700 damage Yuri can deal out regularly with his Blue Dragon sword… it was taking longer, so much longer that Barbos took notice, "Stop that woman! Don't let her destroy the bridge operations!"

"Bridge operations?!" Flynn said in realization and shock.

"I was wondering why these guys never seemed to end," Raven said a bit curiously.

"Then that leaves one option, take out the others!" Yuri shouted in a commanding tone as the others spread out to take out the other 4 making Barbos rather pissed off that he let that piece of info slip. Kairi came closer to keep enemies away from me pillar with her firebolt and Raven following behind her a bit wide eyed at watching her fight, but not in pure shock yet, making me wonder (Just why is Raven so protective of her so far. Is it because she's a 'beautiful lady', or… or did Alexei tell him to….).

Raven fired arrows to keep the mages at bay until he finally turned to give Kairi a good look before his eyes widened big time and he stopped firing to gape and ask a question I wasn't prepared to answer at all, "You…. Yer fightin' and usin' magic without a blastia?!"

Judith looked over as well making me stop punching the pillar to slap his back, "Less questions, more shooting! I'll answer that later!"

Though as I returned to dealing with the pillar, I began to sweat…. Just HOW was I going to explain this to Raven without telling him the truth?! As the pillar FINALLY went down, the gears retracted preventing further guild members from joining their boss, I was the last bridge as the others damage was way higher than mine…. I need better equips…and I need an excuse to tell Raven…

"Agh… Y-you'll never beat me!" Barbos said nervously, yet still angrily. Caryn kept firing arrows to get his attention stirred around, making him turn to her and…. Raging Snake Eyes!

The beam flew straight towards Caryn and Flynn quickly shoved her down to the ground to cover her, but I could hear her shout, "Why the fuck does he have a laser beam eye?!"

I could hear Square Enix's CEO president, Matsuda Yosuke from the FFXV CEO boss fight saying, 'Shachou desu kara!' and it made me chuckle a bit inwardly at the thought. Barbos wasn't so hard a boss, but his combo of Macabre Hammer and Hammer Roll were the worse as he'd catch Yuri in the Macabre Hammer and pull him in close for a good dose and taste of his Hammer Roll as well as all of us (Thank god for Estelle knowing Nurse!). Head Shock wasn't so powerful, but it could stun, same for his Jump Hammer….when he did it the first time I stopped and stared at this weirdly shaped, bulky man jump in the air a good 12-15 feet…

"He looks like he'd be heavier than me… just how the hell can he jump that high?" I basically asked myself, not paying attention to the splash damage range of his Jump Hammer, and I wound up getting stunned.

Our ace in the hole, was Kairi. Since he refused to hurt her, she was free to spam firebolt to her hearts content, and boy did she spam them with a lot of anger.

Though he only had a little over 45,000 hp, and Yuri was dishing out the damage with Kairi and the others. So I wasn't so worried as I fought him, my attention going elsewhere as I noticed a mage on the ground with the pile of unconscious guild members, despite that most the mages seemed to be women… this one was a GUY! I fumed a little inside, he made for a REALLY GOOD WOMAN, and it didn't seem he was even trying! He could make Drag Queens green with envy! Which meant…. He put me to shame big time and I was jealous and wanted his secrets! Though that distraction cost me some as he managed to stun me with a Head Shock and get me in a Hell Hammer, which is just an uppercut with his ball spiked arm, sending me flying a good ways back, "Gah!"

I rubbed my gut where he socked me and rubbed my head in pain as I hissed and glared at Barbos angrily. (Fucking bastard, taking advantage of my ADD!)

"Liana, stay focused!" I heard Yuri shout seriously just as Raven shot an arrow in the air that flew towards me, "Who loves ya baby!"

I blinked dumbly as I turned to Raven when the arrow hit my head, but there was no pain, only relief, "I dunno… who does love me?"

Raven blinked dumbly back as well, probably not seeing that coming before returning his focus to fighting Barbos again, "Come on wind, knock 'em around, and cut 'em down. Wind Blade!"

Rita used a Tractor Beam to catch Barbos in it and send him up, and plummeting right back down. (Ouch, for a heavy guy, that had to hurt!). He prepared to hit Yuri with a Macabre Hammer but Kairi hit him with another firebolt making him fall to his knees after the onslaught he'd faced, "Impossible…"

"Stay down," Yuri said seriously as he glared at Barbos.

"It's over. Accept your fate!" Estelle shouted angrily, yet again making me turn to her with a dumb look. (Seriously, what is this? This isn't a damn fairytale book where the villain accepts his fate, he'd rather make his own, and she'll soon find out.)

"Should I finish him off?" Rita asked mockingly, making Flynn shake his head at her to imply she not do that.

Yuri glared at Barbos as he spoke, "Your henchmen have run out on you… That's it, Barbos. It looks like you were the fool who didn't know when to give up."

Barbos got up slowly, clearly winded from that firebolt spamming, "Urk… Ha ha ha. Perhaps you are right."

"Then you'll surrender…" Estelle began to say in relief.

"I… I won't be humiliated any more than this," Barbos said to Estelle before turning to Yuri, "… Yuri, was it? You remind me of Whitehorse in his youth… You're his spitting image."

Yuri gave a smirk as he spoke sassily back, "Hope you're not saying I'm gonna end up like that old man. Not exactly something to look forward to."

I devilishly smirked as I turned to Yuri, "It ain't? I'd certainly hit that if ya were."

Yuri just gave me his signature silly grin as Kairi gave me a huge pout at my semi-flirting with him.

"Like the Don, sooner or later you will make great enemies in this world. …And then that world will consume you whole. Regret, sorrow, and despair will hound you all the way to hell, and I will be waiting there for you," Barbos got out as he stepped backwards to the edge of the platform, leaving Flynn, Yuri, and Estelle to realize what he was about to do and make a dash to try to apprehend him. But they were too late, as Barbos plummeted to his death in the very tower he created.

Estelle fell to her knees in regret that they couldn't catch him, that and witnessing another take their own life. It had to be a first for her certainly as it was for us all. And while it was horrible to even think of, I was both relieved and pissed off that he'd died a quick death, but I guess that's better than having a slow and painful one even though I think he deserves it… I was a twisted and complex human being…

Kairi carefully removed the aque blastia from the sword making it stop vibrating on the ground, catching everyone but Estelle's attention. Yuri was the first to respond, "Huh? Ah, the core. Is it okay?"

Kairi looked at the glowing stone in her hands carefully as she gently turned it and stroked it, "Y-Yeah. It doesn't have a scratch, so I think it's okay."

Raven then walked up despite Yuri heading over to take the aque blastia, "So… Can ya answer my question from before on how ya can use magic without a blastia?"

"I'm rather interested too. It's rather unusual and unheard of to be honest," Judith spoke up as well, both of them making Kairi nervous, "Eto… Ano…"

I sighed as I walked up, "I'll explain to Raven, Kairi, you explain to Judith."

"Huh?" Kairi turned to me with wide eyes, " _I thought we weren't telling Raven anything. And is it okay to tell Judith?_ "

" _I've had some time to think of a lie, I'll fill ya in on it once I tell him. Let the others know about my lie and why we have to lie around him, okay,_ " I replied back with a nod.

"Alright, so what's the story," Raven said, a little bit eager to hear this 'story'.

"Easy. First, I need to tell Yuri something. Second… I'll tell you in the room downstairs where Kairi was held," I got out seriously as I walked over to Yuri.

"Huh? Well why can she tell Judith right here and now, yet we gotta do this in secret?" Raven said getting suspicious, though the group didn't look phased which made Raven a little more curious, "Does everyone else here know?"

"Basically, yes. Me and Kairi have told them except Judith and you, so either you accept the terms, or you'll just be left in the dark. This is a serious secret, Mr. R-a-v-e-n," I said turning to him seriously as I patted the area on my chest with each phoneme where Raven's heart blastia should be.

He stiffened up as he got my hidden meaning, but he quickly recovered and played it off with a huge slumping sigh, "Fine, I'll go with ya downstairs to the room."

"Alright, but first," I said as I turned to Yuri seriously, I beckoned with my finger for him to lend me his ear as I cupped my hands over it and whispered so only he could hear despite I knew Judith would hear it too, "If I don't come back first out of the elevator, or I'm not with him when he comes back, or I'm not back in 30 minutes… He's responsible for whatever happens to me…."

Yuri then turned to me with wide eyes and whispered right back with a dark tone, "What the hell are you saying?!"

"Just filling you in, and giving you a heads up in case this goes south…" I whispered back seriously.

"Then I'm going with you! If you think telling him is so dangerous, just don't tell him! We'll back you up, so you don't have to-!" Yuri whispered angrily back, clearly not happy that I was putting myself in a dangerous situation without help. But I raised my hand to stop him and gave him my final message, "I gotta do this Yuri, or else he'll just eavesdrop whenever he feels like it, or try to weasel it out of the others. I promise I'll be back, but that's so long as he doesn't do anything funny, okay."

Yuri gave me a harsh gaze, but just took in a deep breath to try to cool himself off before turning to give Raven a side glare and just responded, "Okay, I got ya. But you better come back."

"We'll be back before ya know it," I responded as I walked over to Raven and motioned for him to follow me to the elevator.

* * *

The elevator ride went in silence, and as soon as we entered into the room, Raven gave me a harsh gaze as he spoke seriously as he gripped where his heart blastia is, "How do ya know?"

I turned to him with a serious gaze as well, I wasn't going to back down from this, "You want the truth. I'm telling ya the truth. But first, you should be warned; I informed Yuri that if you try to harm me or kill me here, or if I don't go back within 30 minutes, that you'll be the one responsible. That'd make your little operation to keep an eye on the princess and Kairi impossible if everyone is on guard of you, won't it?"

At the same time I spoke, I called Kairi to inform her on the lie, " _Kairi. Get set to hear this lie. And after telling Judith about Earth, inform them all about the simplicity of the lie I'm about to spout…but nix the sensitive info I'll say._ "

" _Got it!_ " Kairi replied back seriously.

He stiffened even more, "How?"

"You may not believe me, but… I'm psychic. I can see a bit into the future as well as the past when I'm near people. I learned more about you the further we've traveled together, even back at Caer Bocram. Your speech patterns gave it away; like I couldn't tell who I was talking to… and then I saw. I apologize, it's not like I mean to pry, it just happens. So I know about Raven, Schwann, and even Damuron…" I said with serious eyes making him pale, all the while repeating the same things to Kairi, leaving her to sort what to say and what not to say.

"That… can't be possible," Raven said shakily, not wanting to believe my lie, yet.

"It's how I knew about the bridge operations…and it's why I was wary of you. It's not beneath Schwann to silence those that'd interfere with Alexei, he's murdered officials before; however, I don't like trying to interfere with what should happen. It'd contradict the time line, so I try to let them figure things out, but… I want every one of my friends to live… so I'll do what I have to, even contradict the time line. But I also know those events are meant to shape who they become, so it's conflicting," I said as I rubbed the back of my head, hoping he could buy it so far.

"That doesn't explain Kairi though," Raven asked seriously now, not wanting to play around when I knew so much.

"I was getting to that! Sheesh, hold on. We're no where near 30 minutes," I said with a huge pout as I took a deep breath, hoping he'd buy this, "Thing is… Kairi, Caryn, and even my friend Justin, and Me… we all come from a hidden country that's been sealed off from Terca Lumireis for millennia under everyone's feet, it's called Errin. That Wonder Chef knew about it, and he almost let it slip…"

Raven's eyes widened as he looked in thought, "So that's why he said 'Ear', he was fixin' to say Errin, then ya stopped him."

I nodded, I was going with an 'Agartha' conspiracy theory as my lie, and it almost made me want to laugh at how stupid this lie sounded to me as an Earthling, "Yeah. It's not supposed to be known to topsiders. It's far below the crust, and even if ya dig to the center of the planet, ya won't find it. The ancient elders sealed it off and away with magic, so we could live our lives in peace, away from the quarrels of topsiders and their raids."

"Raids?" Raven asked, more curious to know more, which meant… he was buying it! Yes!

"Yes, rarely in our history before the seal was set, topsiders would make their way into Errin, to steal our wealth and knowledge, and plunge our peaceful existence into turmoil. It's only accessible to those who have special devices to enter… some of those ended up topside, so we're trying to find one so we can return home. One device was recovered when some topsiders found one and an entrance into Errin, they came to our town of Tir Chonaill, and then… they massacred everyone they could to take what they could… Kairi's mother was killed in the onslaught, and her father killed those men to take back the device," I said with a lowered head, feigning anger and fear.

"And somehow, you all ended up top here?" Raven asked curiously still.

I looked at him seriously, "Kairi's father is up top here; whether he's alive or dead, it's unknown. But he came to take back the devices that were left up top here years and years ago. The four of us were casually researching in Caryn's father's laboratory, when something went wrong; and it flung us up top. It threw Caryn at Flynn, Justin to the Fortune's Market guild, and me and Kairi in Yuri's cell. I'm certain my parents are worried sick… but they don't dare come up top here. It's up to us to return down there…and don't expect us to take any of you down there. There's extreme fear and prejudice towards top siders, they'd likely try to run you all out of towns or kill you even if the four of us vouch for you all."

"I see. That explains some of it, but still not quite how Kairi dear can use magic," Raven still asked with a stupid look.

"I'm unfortunate enough to have been cursed with being a psychic, I have no knack for magic nor the knowledge to perform it. Neither does Justin or Caryn. Kairi's just the only person in Errin that can use magic aside from her father. Her mother was deeply adept at it, but she couldn't teach Kairi much before she died. Though, under in Errin, we don't have aer, we have mana, so Kairi's not capable of dealing as much damage as she would back down in Errin. As to why she can use magic, that's not known, the elders don't speak much on it," I replied as I sighed deeply, "So does that answer it all. Or do you require a further explanation that isn't known?"

Raven shot his hands out in front of him, "No, no, that says enough."

"Anyways. We should head back up, before Yuri deems you a murderer," I smirked at him as I walked passed him with a pat on his shoulder.

He sighed deeply as well as he slumped over, "I almost forgot about that."

We both got into the elevator and got set to go up when Raven had yet another question, "So. How far into the future have ya seen?"

I sighed big time, "So far, a lot of what I see isn't funny, I don't always like what I see… but… it's not like it can all come true. Yuri proved that to me back at Deidon Hold, but still..."

"He did? How?" Raven asked with wide eyes, curious now on what could've changed.

"I foresaw him grabbing the girl's doll, returning to the gate mere feet before it closes with an epic slide! Emerging unscathed on the other side… but the reality was… the gate was mere inches, he slid, he didn't make it…but, some magic sent him into the hold. And I knew… it had to have been Kairi unknowingly that pulled him in, she can't control it her magic very well when she gets emotional, the only other explanation is that it had to have been her father…but my money is on Kairi," I said with a sigh, "Seriously. That alone made my blood freeze. It also proves that not all I see is set in stone, but it's close enough and sometimes can change up to be derivative."

"Gotcha," Raven said with a casual tone.

"And another thing," I said as I turned to Raven, my normal gaze returning to all seriousness, "If you dare to tell Alexei anything about this, I'll inform the group about you, Alexei's plans, what I've seen, and your involvement in it; it'll seriously hamper your orders. Got it?!"

He gave me a serious gaze before sighing deeply, "Guess I don't have a choice. Alright, I'll keep silent…"

"You better, or else I'll slug ya to high heaven that it'll make the Don's beatings look merciful!" I pouted at him with a huge whine before sighing, this elevator was so slow, "Though… I'm hoping a bit of what I see can come true…. I'd really love it…"

"What's that?" Raven asked curiously.

I turned to him with a devilish smirk, "That's for you to hopefully find out."

"Let me guess… you get to bang the Don?" Raven asked with a silly smirk, making me punch his arm with a huge whine, "I WISH!"

He rubbed his arm, "Seriously, I can't believe ya said all that in front of him!"

I put my hands to my hips and gave him a determined look, "The heart wants what the heart wants! And so does the body…!"

He gave me a creeped out look before sighing, "Ya really are a weird girl…"

I fist bumped my chest, "And proud of it!"

The elevator doors opened to reveal the group, everyone set to board the elevator down.

"So, everything okay?" Yuri asked me once the doors closed and we headed down, the aque blastia in his hands.

I nodded, "Mhm, told him about me being psychic already and about Errin," I looked around to see acknowledgement on everyone's face, which meant Kairi told them already about the lie.

"Gotcha," Yuri said with a serious gaze before looking to Raven, "Old Man…"

"Hm? What's up?" Raven asked curiously as he turned to Yuri.

"… Don't go telling anyone about this. It could seriously put them in danger," Yuri said with a hard glare.

Raven slumped over a little, "I already promised the firecracker here I wouldn't say anything. So ease up on the scary looks."

"You didn't say promise though," I replied with a pout making Raven give me a pleading look as if to say 'back me up here'.

Yuri then turned away, "So long as I got your word."

The rest of the ride down we discussed the battle, how to improve, and about my unfocused nature, to which I had Kairi and Caryn to defend me with explaining my ADD…

"Attention Deficit Disorder, I think I've read about that before," Estelle said in amazement.

"So, what exactly is it?" Yuri asked as he turned to her.

"It's a chronic condition that includes attention difficulty, behavioral symptoms like; aggression, impulsivity, irritability, lack of restraint, and hyperactivity I think. But it also has brain issues like forgetfulness, short attention span, problems with paying attention, difficulty focusing, and absent-mindedness; and it can even lead to learning disabilities and depression," Estelle got out in a know it all way.

"That's about it, though the hyperactivity is more for ADHD, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder; though that technically is a type of ADD…" Caryn said with a shrug.

"That explains so much though," Yuri said with a deep sigh as he looked to me.

"Hey, come on! I at least try to control my ADD and not let it control me!... Although more times than none, it does win…" I said with a pout making the others laugh at my puffed-up pouting cheeks.

* * *

The elevator stopped on the 12th floor, and we had to climb the stairs down the rest of the way… to which, I don't hate going down stairs… it's just that I've fallen going down stairs so many times my legs wobble going down them. So I have to take 1 step at a time while holing a the handrails or the balusters to get down. It made the others upset at having to wait for me to get to the bottom of a stair case once they'd already descended.

"Come on Liana, you can't fall behind," Yuri pouted up at me.

"Don't start messing with my trauma, Lowell! Or else!" I whined angrily as I slowly kept descending down the steps, sometimes trying to do one foot in front of the other as I held onto the handrails.

"I forget how many times she's fallen going down stairs or up them, that her body developed a reaction to going down them," Kairi said with a small smirk making me glare at her.

"She can fall going UP stairs? That takes talent," Raven mocked making me angrily pout. Though at least the others had stopped rushing me the entire way down.

* * *

Once we exited the door, I noticed Raven sneaking away, he did have the Don to report back too, and hopefully he'd keep his word, but even if he were to tell Alexei, it's all a lie, so Earth's existence is safe.

"I'm so glad the core is safe," Yuri said as he stared down at the core.

Estelle moved over to get a closer look and covered her mouth in surprise, "Wow, the aque blastia core is so small."

Karol looked so proud as he spoke up, "So, we've got your blastia core back. I guess that's case closed."

Though Estelle pouted sadly, "Yes, but we weren't able to take Barbos into custody…"

"Yes…" Flynn said sadly as well, "That is one point of regret."

Caryn sighed deeply but smiled at Flynn's reaction, and Rita just scoffed as she was about to say what was on my mind as well as her own, "What are you talking about? A creep like that is better off—" though Yuri gave her a mild shove with his fist to stop her from finishing, "Ow!"

I sighed deeply, I could understand how Yuri, Flynn, and Estelle were feeling, but I also had to agree with Rita's thoughts, "For once I agree with her on something."

Caryn nodded, "Cruel as it may be to say, I only regret that he took his own life. Bastard got the cowards way out…"

"Caryn," Flynn said in surprise as he turned to her.

She turned to him with a serious look too, "What? Even if he had been taken into custody, what are the odds that he'd receive the death penalty? He'd have died either way, right? Why should the people pay to keep a guy like that in prison, when that money should go to their families."

Flynn lowered his head, unsure of how to respond to that as I chimed in, "I'm a complex human being, I can understand the beauty of allowing the law to handle someone like that, it's more…human…more orderly… but I'm also a twisted one that has no faith in its system either…I also agree with your thinking too Caryn…it was the cowards way, but I think he deserved it regardless…"

"Lian…" Caryn said a bit sadly, until she sighed, wondering just how something like this could trigger such a deep conversation… if anything, it'd make for some good debates in a classroom. It reminded me of a fictional case we had to read for my Education with Special Needs People class… where we had to decide if this 'disabled' person deserved the death penalty for his murderous crimes, why or why not… it had to be the hardest paper I ever had to write… and present.

"It's a little early to say the problem's solved," Flynn said, getting back on track after the moment of silence that ensued.

"Yeah. We have to make sure this thing still works," Yuri said aloud making Flynn look in thought, he was definitely thinking something else, it had to be about when Barbos said 'That man'.

"Blastia cores don't break all that easily," Rita assured Yuri who was gazing down at the blastia core in his hands with worry.

Karol looked in awe as he learned something new, and looked around when he mentioned the old man, "Huh. Bet you didn't know that, did ya Ra- … Raven?"

Rita now looked around, "Jeez, what is up with that guy… Just showing up whenever he wants."

"You're one to talk, Rita," Karol said almost boredly, making me pinch his cheek, "Yeow!"

"Behave now baby boy. My guess is Raven went to report to the Don, whether he keeps his word or not is up to him now. Even if he does tell, the information I gave him is a lie. So we should all be safe," I replied making everyone nod.

"It takes all kinds, I suppose," Judith spoke up.

Yuri just nodded as he replied, "Liana's right. He probably headed back to Dahngrest. I'm sure we can find him if we need to."

Flynn began to walk ahead, Caryn following behind him, "We also must head back ahead of you. I have to check on the work I left in my subordinates' hands," he then turned to Estelle, "Your Highness, please allow me to accompany you back."

Estelle looked at him in thought before responding a bit nervously, "Well… Would it be all right for me to stay with everyone else for just a little while longer?"

Flynn just shook his head at her for 'no', making Yuri sigh as he spoke up, "I guess I don't mind watching over an unreasonable princess a bit longer. Shouldn't that be easier for you, too? We'll make sure we get her back to Dahngrest."

Flynn looked in thought for a few seconds before giving Yuri a serious gaze, "…Understood. In exchange, I'm counting on you not to make any mistakes. And no detours, okay?"

"Got it, got it," Yuri replied cooly. Flynn just looked down at Estelle with soft eyes, "I will see you in Dahngrest then."

Estelle smiled at him happily, "Thank you."

I saw Caryn giving Estelle a glare out of the corner of her eye before pouting behind Flynn as he began to head out and taking a spot walking alongside him rather than behind after a short distance of walking. (The fact that he can't tell she's jealous means Flynn has no knowledge on Female Psychology as well…)

Estelle turned to Yuri who was staring at the top of the tower and her eyes immediately widened, "Why do you look so sad? Are you okay?"

I noticed Kairi was giving Yuri worried looks as well, even when he spoke, Kairi's gaze didn't lighten up, "I was just thinking, I still owe that creep Dedecchi a good beating."

Karol just pouted a little, "You got the blastia back isn't that enough? Why chase after some stupid thief?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right. If I ever cross paths with him though, he's in for a surprise," Yuri said mockingly, until he began to lowly mutter a bit frustrated, but Me, Kairi, and Estelle picked up on it, "…Waiting for me in hell, huh? Why'd he have to go and say that?"

Kairi gripped the back of his vest making him turn around to look at her, "Hm? What is it?" She opened her mouth, but nothing came out, her gaze conflicting and mixed with concern, sadness, determination, and frustration.

I waved my hand, "She probably just spasmed," I spoke up to Yuri to get Kairi out of her little scenario as she nodded and let go of his vest.

"Hey, come on already, let's get back to Dahngrest," Karol said as he walked ahead of us all.

"Well, I will take my leave from you here," Judith spoke up, making us all turn to her.

Yuri turned to her, "Off to meet up with your partner?"

"Partner? Who do you mean?" Estelle asked curiously.

Judith just clasped her hands behind her back and looked away, "We'll be operating individually from now on. That way we won't interfere with each other's work."

"I see. Well, see you later," Yuri said casually as he turned around, all of us following behind, but not far enough to hear Judith respond, "Yeah…"

* * *

As we walked back, Kairi kept rubbing her tummy, and that made me curious, "You okay there Kairi?"

She turned to me with wide eyes before blushing madly, "Y-Yeah…. I'm just…Guuuuuuu" She covered her tummy as it rumbled.

"Huh? You're hungry?" I replied stupidly and turned bright red when my own tummy responded.

"We hadn't eaten in a while. Even I'm starting to feel a bit faint," Estelle responded as her tummy now rumbled.

"Well, don't faint on us here. We're all starving, so it'd take everything to carry someone back," Yuri replied.

"We should eat the second we get back. I'm so hungry, I could eat a whole Don's Special!" Karol got out as his tummy roared.

"Yeah, I still got some spare clothes to pick up at the tailor too," I replied as I tried to push away the thoughts of food.

"Spare clothes?" Yuri asked curiously.

"Oh right! I almost forgot about that, I can't wait to see what you picked Liana!" Estelle said with sparkles in her eyes, though they faded the moment her tummy roared at her.

"Lets just save our energy till we eat. No talking unless necessary," Rita got out as her own stomach rumbled, though she was handling it really good like Yuri. Curse these solitary types and their stereotypical 'not hungry' vibes!

* * *

As we finished crossing the bridge, a huge mass of knights was in view. Karol the first to point out the obvious, "Look, the Knights have come back."

Though despite the huge mass of knights, the sight of Ragou being restrained with two halberds at his throat was HIGHLY satisfying (Just wish they'd close those halberds like scissors and take his head off!) as he squirmed and squealed in their grip, "I'm innocent, I tell you! This is a plot by the Knights to destroy the Council!"

Rita put her hands to her hips in irritation as we watched Ragou spout excuse after excuse, "He doesn't know when to quit, does he?"

"Where's Flynn…?" Estelle asked as she looked around, though a mop of blonde or even orange wasn't in sight.

"I can't make him out from here," Yuri said as he peered around too.

"Then let's go watch the carnage right fast, then go chow down!" I said with a slow fist pump due to my lack of energy.

We ran up to the front of the mob to get a better view, as Ragou kept spouting crap to the people, "You must not be taken in by the Knights! They only plan to crush this town once you've all ben lured into a false sense of safety!"

"On the honor of the Imperial Knights, I swear that we would never perpetrate such disloyalty."

We looked over to see a familiar blonde haired, baby-blue eyed knight walk forward to face Ragou.

"You're… Flynn Scifo!" Ragou said in surprise; seriously, didn't he get the memo that Flynn was in town?

"The empire and the Union have joined in a treaty of friendship," Flynn brought up making Ragou's eyes widen, "What? Impossible…"

Flynn continued to add on, his formal expression never wavering or changing once, "At this moment, Don Whitehorse and His Highness Ioder are in council together. It's only a matter of time until it's made official."

Ragou lowed his head in thought, "But how…? I thought that cursed Alexei was tied up in other matters."

Flynn nodded slightly, "Yes. It is true that our Commandant could only make a brief appearance before returning to the capital."

That made me tilt my head, if Alexei was back in the capital, then how does he arrive here tomorrow to bring Heracles?... Come to think of it, how did Heracles even come from so fast to deal with Phaeroh?

"Then… on whose authority…?" Ragou asked, but his gaze soon landed on Flynn and he pieced together the puzzle, "…No! This can't mean my plans have been ruined by this… this boy!"

Flynn then gave signal for the knights to move out, and they began to basically parade Ragou down the street to take to a cell. Estelle watched and spoke happily as she watched Ragou being taken away, "This will put an end to the suffering of the people of Capua Nor as well."

"Here's hoping the next magistrate they get is more of a stand up guy," Yuri threw in after hearing Estelle speak.

Estelle closed her eyes for a moment as she turned to Yuri before opening them and responding, "I will do what I can to make sure a worthy person is chosen when I get back to the castle."

Karol turned to her with wide eyes, "To the castle… You mean, you're going back to the capital, Estelle?"

Estelle looked back up and over at Flynn before responding, "…Yes. With Ragou gone, the rest of the castle should have returned to normal."

Yuri looked over at Estelle, watching her expression before responding, "But you don't really want to go back."

Estelle turned to him with wide eyes, "What do you mean?"

"I can see it in your face," Yuri replied casually. Though as I looked at Estelle, at first she looked determined to go back, but it was obvious, she only wanted to go back so Flynn wouldn't worry… she really wanted to stick with all of us in reality.

Her gaze saddened as she tried to reply, "No… I-I…"

Yuri turned away before continuing, "Well, you should do what suits you best. You've made up your own mind, right?"

Estelle turned to look back at Flynn and instantly responded in a low voice, "…I will go back. I don't want Flynn or anyone else to have to worry about me anymore…"

Flynn turned to give Yuri a thumbs up and Yuri just gave that point as if to say, 'Mah bro!'

Though what came next was expected, but it still didn't hurt any less for either me or Kairi as Yuri spoke low enough for the two of us to hear, "It's going to be lonely without her, won't it, Repede?"

Kairi turned away, it was obvious that the quote hurt on more levels than just one. It wasn't only a Yustelle hint, he was saying no one else counted as companions, again…

I'm pretty sure Estelle didn't completely hear, but she could hear Yuri mumbling so she turned just in time to see me walk in front of Yuri and slam two fists into the sides of his head, pinning his head between them as I noogied him as hard as I could.

"Ow ow ow! Liana!" Yuri shouted as he tried to pull my hands off, but my last bits of adrenaline were kicking in as I held them in place.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, LONELY?! YOU GOT ME AND KAIRI, OR DON'T WE COUNT! YOU FUCKING LITTLE PIECE OF SHIT!" I shouted venomously making Yuri stiffen up and sweat at how angry I was, but he still tried to get out of this, "I didn't mean it like that! I swear!"

"THEN HOW DID YOU MEAN IT YURI FUCKING LOWELL?!" I shouted angrily, Estelle and the others not daring to step up to me right now as a blazing fire was practically in my eyes. I know he's meant to say that, but come on! We're a part of this story now or are we not?! I'm getting so tired of being treated at times like I don't exist!

He looked at me with nervous eyes, nothing coming to mind as he thought of what to say. And I realized he wasn't about to take back what he said, nor would he apologize for it anyways, so I just sighed and shoved him back before mumbling angrily, "Fuck it. If we're not anything to you, just say it, dumb ass…" I walked ahead towards the bar, not caring if anyone would stop me or not.

* * *

I slammed my beer as I scarfed down my 2nd bowl of Mabo Curry. Not gonna lie…. This is the stuff! I could see why most Tales characters loved Mabo Curry.

"Easy on the drinkin', darlin'," I heard the familiar voice of my favorite old man.

I slammed down my mug before looking at him, "Can't blame me after how bad Yuri pissed me off. Hey! Let me get another Beer and Mabo Curry over here!"

"Roger! Another Mabo Curry, third beer coming up!" The waiter shouted as he ran back to set the order.

"Hmph," I huffed out as I sat with my head held up by my hands on the table.

"Ya really are fightin' mad! Just what did he do?" Raven asked both curiously and concerned… for Yuri.

I looked over at Raven and considered telling him, meh not like it's kill anyone, "The bastard basically said he'd be lonely without Estelle! Like Kairi and I don't count!... AGAIN!"

Raven nodded, "Ah, probably just a spur of the moment. I don't think he meant that."

I glared at Raven, "It's not the first time that asshole has basically said something along those lines! I know we don't belong here, but cut us some slack! IT'S NOT LIKE WE ASKED TO BE HERE! I EXIST TOO DAMNIT! AND SO DOES KAIRI!"

Raven waved his hands wildly as he flailed nervously, "Darlin'! Your voice! Calm down!"

"I'll be pissed off all I want too damn it!" I shouted angrily, I turned my head a little, and the sight of the dark haired swordsman hiding behind me in the distance near the wall came into view. The asshole had been spying on me! I threw my empty mug at him, hitting Yuri square on the forehead, "ASDFGHJKL!"

Raven slapped his hand on his forehead as Yuri rubbed his forehead where my mug had hit him, "I told ya to lay low while I try to wind her down…"

"Sorry, there aren't really any places to hide around here," Yuri said as he kept rubbing his forehead.

I fumed angrily, but huffed as I turned away from him. If I kept staring at him, odds are I'd start a brawl with him… but…

Yuri sat besides me making me fidget with anger, "So that's what's got you steamed up," I shook with repressed anger as Yuri kept talking, "I told you, it wasn't like that. I just said the first thing that came to mind is all."

"Yuri Lowell…" I trembled and said almost silently making him turn to me and making him freeze up as I turned to him with a murderous gaze as the waiter set my beer and Mabo Curry before me. I quickly grabbed my beer and slammed it as fast as I could before I turned to him and cracked my knuckles, "Prepare your anus…"

Yuri paled as he backed up with wide eyes, "Prepare my what?!"

"RAAAAWWRRRR!" I tackled him to the ground and proceeded to utilize the one weakness he's shown to have in the First Strikes, getting put in holds… how to describe what was happening… stuff went flying, people began betting on which of us would win as we basically were having a wrestling match in the middle of the bar, some recognized me from my wanted poster, others didn't, and I'm pretty sure anyone walking in could hear cats screeching angrily.

"GRAAAA! I GOT YOU YURI LOWELL!" I shouted triumphantly as I sat on Yuri's tailbone and with my two hands clasped together, I linked and grabbed under his chin and was yanking upwards, almost making him bend his back backwards.

Yuri tapped the floor as he attempted to speak, "Give! Give! Look, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! Ghhhh! Hurt you or Kairi's feelings!"

"So he was in a square relationship, not a triangle?!" I heard one guy speak up.

"The lady said he had a thing for this Estelle chic, but that she and some other chic didn't count," Another guy said as if to clarify.

"He's an even worse player than Raven," I heard one lady huff out, "Cheating on not only one, but three women at once! That animal!"

"I wasn't cheating! Gah! I wasn't even dating any of them!" Yuri shouted nervously as he heard the rumors flying left and right.

I turned to everyone with a disgusted look, "This guy ain't my type! If anything, he's locked in a triangle with the other two! I still want to bang the Don!"

Raven stared at me with wide eyes at the fact that I had the gall to say that aloud.

"Bang the Don?!" Some guy said incredulously before he whistled and spoke more creepily, "She's got good tastes Ehehehe!"

"Of course, she does! Who in their right mind wouldn't want all that MAN," Another woman swooned at the mere imagery in her mind.

"Finally! Someone gets it!" I shouted out happily as I let go of Yuri. My focus now on a cheerful, dirty conversation with the locals on 'sex' with the Don.

Yuri coughed for air as some guy kneeled in front of him, "Don't worry. Just because she made you her bitch don't mean you're not man enough."

"Not helping," Yuri said with a pout as he finally got his breath back.

I ignored him to converse with the people until I realized it was getting late, and I needed to go pick up my Assassin's uniform and my regular clothes from the tailor and blacksmith, "I gotta get going before the tailor closes down, gotta go get my new clothes."

"Awww, well if you're ever in town, just come by here," A lady said with a frown.

"Yeah, we come here just about every day at this hour! So you won't miss us!" A guy said to me, and I smiled with teary eyes, for once since I'd gotten to this world…. I felt welcome and wanted.

* * *

"Hello! I'm here to pick up my order, the name should be Miss Banda!" I shouted out as no one was at the front desk of the tailor's shop.

The woman came out with two bags, "Ah, just in time. I just finished the hood on your other outfit. I do hope you enjoy them!"

I gave her a thumbs up, "I bet I'll love 'em so much, I'll be recommending this place everywhere I go!"

The woman smiled and nodded, "Free advertisement is always well received, thank you for your business."

"You're welcome, and thank you," I cheerfully whistled as I then ran over to the blacksmith's compartment, "How's the hidden blade coming along?"

The man was working on something else, but he wheeled his chair right along over to some other area and grabbed some boxes before wheeling over to me. He lifted the welding mask he had to reveal his face smudged in soot everywhere, as he spoke he lit up and practically coughed up black rings of smoke, "I go' 'em finished faster than a speedin bullet! They're right beauties they are! It wa' a challenge ta get the blades not to pop out and chop off a finger… bu' I did it!"

"Oh! Nice!" I said with sparkles in my eyes as he opened the box to show me them.

"First things first. The spring mechanism is delicate work, don' go slammin' this on somethin' rock solid or somethin'! To get it ta pop on out, ya jus' go' to use yer wrist ta press this wee little button in there. Give it a go!" He explained as stars were in his eyes, I feel like Winry Rockbell was now possessing this man….

I placed on the bracers and flicked my wrists and out came the blades, I shivered in nostalgia and amazement, "THESE ARE WICKED! THANK YOU SO MUCH!"

"They're beautiful lassies ain' they?! I even sharpened them so much, just one little movement can slice through paper!" The man replied with sparkling eyes.

The two of us just gushed on them for a while, testing the blades on different materials, except other metals…I didn't want to break the blades before they'd get used. He even showed me how to care, clean, and sharpen the blades should they get dull or dirty with 'monster' blood. All of this epicness and knowledge… for free! Just how I liked it!

"Thank you so much! I'll definitely recommend you for some interesting builds!" I shouted as I waved goodbye to him, my daggers, and hidden blade bracers in their respected boxes in my bags.

* * *

I looked up at the sky and saw the afternoon sky was now black… I didn't know if Yuri had left out already, I needed to hurry and change! I ran into our room in the inn, because Yuri always sets our room under his last name. And I saw NO ONE was there… not even Kairi, which made me wonder where she ran off too…but right now wasn't the time to search!

I quickly whipped off my clothes and donned on my new Eizen Cosplay with an added 'Assassin's Creed' style hoodie! Threw on my hidden blade bracers, and I was set! I ran quickly and as sneakily as I could through the quiet town towards the bridge… I needed a place to hide so I could observe if Yuri was coming or not. It was pitch black, so despite being out in the open, I turned away somewhat with my hands crossed before me near the dark wood railing of a house in plain sight next to the bridge. My black hair, black hood, black clothes camouflaged well in the very dark night that coated the area.

I saw a bandido run away with a pouch of gald that was given to him by Ragou. Ragou just scratched his beard in thought; considering the bandido looked at me straight on, he ran past, I doubt he even noticed me with my camouflage. I kept my eyes on Ragou, in a few moments, Yuri should arrive to take out that bodyguard with him… but did Yuri kill that guy or knock him out? I didn't know, so I kept my eyes peeled.

Then in almost the blink of an eye, a darker figure than the darkness of the night rushed through and slashed the bodyguard's stomach really hard, sending him flying over the rails of the bridge without letting him see the perpetrator, "Aah…!"

I slightly trembled, there was no way that guy was surviving that…

Yuri Lowell in all his glory was standing there on the bridge, Knight Sword in hand glaring at Ragou. (Guess he didn't want his brand-new Blue Dragon Sword to get stained…). I watched as Ragou cowered and backed up, he tried to run but Yuri slashed at his back, the blood spilling on the bridge as Ragou tried to speak more. I already knew what he was saying even though they were a bit too far for me to hear.

I prepared to walk off… but I noticed one thing wrong, Ragou wasn't getting near the rail, nor did he give that final death screech. Instead… HE RAN! I blinked dumbly and quickly ran towards him, he prepared to open his mouth to scream, possibly for help, but before he could get off the bridge… I flicked my wrist, slammed my fist hard into his upper chest, driving the blade in deep into the cavity of his chest with such force that he moved backwards and took some steps back as some blood spilled on the ground and some drops even landed on my face, the rest dripped down my blade.

"W-Who?!... Ghhh! Y-You?!" He stared into my eyes with wide eyes as blood spewed from his mouth, it made me dizzy and disorientated to stare into them, I couldn't believe I'd done this…

His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he threw his head back, and finally let out that death screech he does in the game. I quickly shoved him hard off my blade and off the bridge, blood splattering out on the ground, on my face, arms… just on me! I watched as he fell into the water with a huge splash… I was inwardly trembling in fear despite the cool, uncaring front I was putting up.

I had taken a human life…I couldn't escape that fact no matter how monstrous I told myself he was. I inwardly laughed at myself (And I want to be a kindergarten art teacher… hehehe… that sounds so laughable now…).

"Who are you?" I heard Yuri say darkly, the sound of his sword chinking from his tightened grip made me raise my head from it's view over the bridge.

I tilted as I looked over at him with a slight chuckle due to my mental state right now, "Geez Yuri… if you want to go vigilante… at least make sure you get the target in one go before they try to call for help. What would you have done if he had managed to shout for it? And what if he'd gotten it?"

Yuri's eyes widened as he lowered his sword, staring at me incredulously, but he barely managed to breath out my name in shock, "… Liana…."

* * *

Dead MoFo!

Caryn: Huzzah! Now my Flynn time!

… Actually…. Just one more chapter, THEN, I'll give you those drabbles.

Caryn: You whore! You promised D:

I know I did! But I need to wrap up this whole murder scenario!

Caryn: *puffy cheeks* Fine! But then you better do them!

I will, and I'll create Operation: Code Lemons too for all the 'adult' content while I'm at it.

~Translations~

Shachou desu kara! = Because I'm the president/boss!

Next time: Brave Vesperia and the Flying Fat Turkey! Happy Thanksgiving to all!


	30. 29: The Flying Fat Turkey!

Permanent Note: If you aren't keeping up with the Drabbles, you'll be lost on some things as the chapters progress~ Keep up with that ;D

Please remember, ( ) parenthesis are MY thoughts, _italics are telepathic talk between me and Kairi._ _ **Bold is song lyrics for this chapter ;D.**_

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Tales of Vesperia, Justin, or Caryn. I DO have permission to use Justin and Caryn though. I OWN myself, Kairi, and my work in this fic. That is all….

* * *

"In the flesh," I smiled at Yuri who kept staring at me in astonishment, I hid my fear behind my usual bravado and sass; because, if I didn't, I knew I'd mentally break…

Yuri blinked at me a few seconds before his face became serious, "What are you doing out here? Why did you…?"

I scratched the back of my hoodie rather than my actual hair due to the blood on my hands, and gave out a huge sigh as I replied, "I told you all didn't I…. I'm a twisted human being who doesn't believe in the system of the world. It doesn't justify what I did… but it couldn't be helped. He'd have gone on to hurt and kill more people, mainly Flynn and all of us now due to us crushing his plans; we'd proven to Ragou we were going to be in his way. As to why I'm here…"

I looked up to the pitch-dark sky and sighed again, "I… I had a feeling… I just knew the system wasn't going to hold him, I knew for a long time since we met him…. It took some time… but I decided to give the law just ONE shot; if they couldn't hold him or punish him… I'd do it myself. I should be asking what you're doing out here… but I get the feeling that somehow, you came to the same conclusion…"

Yuri silenced up and looked over at the blood on the ground before looking over to the raging river, "…Yeah. …Though I wasn't expecting you to come out at all…"

I turned to him with a slightly mixed smirk, both teasing, yet slightly sad, "I could say the same thing back to you. When I saw you just run in as I assessed when and how to take him out… it was really damn awkward. I thought you had got him, then he ran and was about to open his big fat mouth… I had to do something. If I were a psychopath I'd say, 'Thanks for giving me a shot at him', but I'm not a psychopath…. That seriously stressed me out when he almost got away."

I then flinched as I removed my right bracer and began to remove the blade out of it for cleaning, the amount of blood that had dripped down and only that arm was a lot, "Ah, we gotta get our blades cleaned off, or else they'll permanently stain and rust."

Yuri looked down at his own blade, "…Yeah. You're right…"

I turned my back to him but turned my head to gaze at him, "Don't start getting too awkward. We're both partners in crime now. That much can't be helped. If we don't just be how we usually are, the others will pick up, and the last thing I want is them to get involved…. After all… I did it to protect them as well as other people…."

Yuri closed his eyes with a pained expression before it softened up somewhat, "Got it. You're right."

We both walked until we found another bridge across the river, with a grassy area below it to cover the both of us from prying eyes. We walked down to the water to wipe off our blades. I had to give my bracers a scrub too due to the blood on them as well; as for my new cosplay… I'd have to set that to wash in the washer at home; if my heating pad worked when I was in Caer Bocram and my phone could be charged up, then that means the electricity was working on the other end; therefore the washer and dryer must work… somehow.

I focused on scrubbing so much I jumped a bit when I felt something cold, wet, and rough rub on my cheek, "Gh! W-what is-?!" I turned to see Yuri holding out a wet towel in his hand with wide eyes as he answered, "Ah, I was just trying to wipe off that blood on your face. Didn't mean to scare you."

I rubbed my cheek, "Almost forgot about that, the inn people certain will know somethings up if I return with a face full of blood… as for my pants, well I can always say I just left town to handle some monsters for gald…."

"Where did you even get those clothes, and those blades?" Yuri asked as he began to tap and roll that puffy weird thing on a stick I see in some anime on his sword. The blacksmith gave me one and some powder for my sword as well as some oil.

I took the towel and began to wipe my face, "I said I made up my mind to do this. So, I needed a disguise. So… I semi-lied to the group, said I needed some new clothes and went into this really amazing shop that has a tailor and blacksmith attached to it. I bought this outfit for this purpose… but I didn't want the others to get suspicious with me coming out with nothing, so I just grabbed some cheap clearance clothes as well. Told them it took forever to get my measurements and having to be told that my clothes needed to be tailored to hide that I commissioned the blacksmith to make these babies."

"How'd you even have the money for this?" Yuri asked with a raised eyebrow.

I turned to him with a smirk, "I'd been saving up from my chest raids and monster hunting! That and the blacksmith gave me my daggers and these custom bracers for free! So, I only paid 6250 gald for all this basically… all cause of next day, rush fees... I hate those…"

Yuri blinked at me with wide eyes, "For free?!"

I nodded as I removed my cloak, certain that my face was clean, so that if anyone saw me it'd just look like two regular people under the bridge, not some suspicious characters. I turned to Yuri with a huge grin, "He loves a good challenge and something unique! If you want a high-end blade or weapon that's custom as heck, he's more than happy to do it at a very affordable price! Although, I'm pretty sure the only reason he gave me it for free was because he was proud that I was wanted at 50,000 gald. Haha, prideful bugger."

"So, then you should still have some cash left over…" Yuri said to me with a smirk now.

"And?" I said backing away from him a bit, seeing him smirking devilishly.

He held out his hand, "You owe me for paying your bill back at the bar."

"Ah!" I said as my face paled, "I was slightly tipsy so I forgot… though wouldn't you have paid for it anyways?"

"Who says I have to pay all the time? Or was it your ADD kicking in?" Yuri mocked, which made me backslap his arm firmly, "Gah!"

"I may have ADD, but I usually never forget to pay a bill!" I pouted at him big time before turning away with a huff to begin patting my blade down with that fluffy ball and powder.

Silence ensued between us as we oiled up our blades and set them away. I got up, set to go first when Yuri's voice made me pause, "Liana… about what I said earlier…"

I sighed deeply, "Save it. I've received pretty words all my life, but that's all they are. Words. If ya want to apologize, go tell them to Kairi. She'd at least listen to them, though whether she'd believe them is up to her. She's been told pretty words and lies a lot too…"

I heard Yuri sigh before I heard him shuffle and get up, walking besides me, "Gotcha. Let's head back before Karol and Rita begin to wonder where we are."

"Well Rita, Karol, and Kairi weren't in the room when I went in to change. I knew Karol was ranting to Estelle about what happened to Ragou, it's how I knew to rush out here…" I lied and said as we headed back.

"And after I told him not to bother her," Yuri said with another sigh.

"Other than that, I don't know where Kairi or Rita were. Hopefully they're deep asleep so I can sneak in and grab my bag to run into the bathroom to change out of-," I said as I stared down at my bloody pants, I gave the boots a scrub to get them clean at least so as not to track blood into the room.

* * *

We stopped in front of the inn as Repede was sleeping outside today, the inn keeper changed his policy on letting him stay indoors because Repede's hair was getting stuck in the carpet due to a lack of bathing and grooming for him. Yuri just stared at him with slightly sad eyes, "Repede…"

But Repede merely gave us a quick look before returning to sleep.

I patted Yuri's shoulder, "Doggo understands. Let's get some shut eye now. There's some Terry Pratchett book lines in my head right now… but I doubt you'd want to hear them... Seriously."

Yuri just nodded and we went in, Rita, Kairi, and Karol sound asleep as Estelle had her own room thanks to Flynn. The inn lobby was silent and empty, it wasn't like there was room service at night for this place it seemed, unless you'd ring the bell on the desks. So it wasn't so troublesome to grab my bag and go change into a sleeping shirt and pants, toss my Eizen cosplay into the washer, and head to bed. Ragou plagued my nightmares, but every time he showed his face, I sent a bolt of lightning down…well more like I used Indignation to obliterate him in whole every single time; so much that Jade Curtis appeared to praise my ability to use it limitlessly, then the nightmare portion just switched to random weirdness like I was used to. Part of me wondered… if that was just my minds way of protecting itself…

* * *

I woke up with Karol shaking me, telling me we'd miss Estelle if we didn't wake up. Though really, I didn't care too much for Estelle, so I just rolled over, "Ugh… 50 more minutes, baby boy. All those stairs and walking yesterday drained my energy…"

"Geez Liana, come on!" I heard him pout, I imagined a cute pout as well, which would have made me smother him, but his footsteps moved away and I heard him pout again, "Kairi! Wake up! We'll miss seeing Estelle! Rita already headed out without us!"

I heard Kairi groan before replying, "Okay, okay, I'm up. I'm up."

The shuffling of sheets could be heard and I turned and opened my eyes to see Yuri still in bed asleep, facing the wall. Soon Karol came into view to try to wake up Yuri, but as I turned to see Kairi walk into the bathroom, hair covering her eyes, a thought came to mind. (Just where was Kairi last night? Certainly she'd have been worried about Yuri going vigilante, but at least she'd want to watch him from afar… come to think of it, why was she going to see Estelle off? Usually she'd take any chance to stay with Yuri…)

"This just keeps getting weirder and weirder…" I muttered to myself as I threw the sheets halfway over my head, trying to nap again for a good while longer before Phaeroh would show up. Though that didn't work as I heard Karol and Kairi leave the room. I sat up rubbing my head, I was glad to see Kairi took her bag, so when we had to run out, I'd just have to grab mine. I sighed as I got up and grabbed my new clothes to change in the bathroom, last thing I wanted to do was rush out on the bridge with Heracles fire in my kinda leg constricting nightgown!

As I got out of the bathroom, I noticed Yuri was awake now, laying on his back with his head towards the ceiling in thought. I wondered if he was feeling a little… off, due to last night. Though it could always just be me… makes me wonder if my LV went up due to that kill and if it affected out mental state… Sans did say LV always depicted how easy you could hurt someone and how distant you could become in Undertale to hurt another… though this was Vesperia.

"Yo, finally awake, eh?" I spoke, trying to make conversation; though he kept staring at the ceiling. I sat on my bed staring at him waiting for a reply, but I got none. I finally began to pout, "Not even a greeting? Sheesh, at the least couldn't you look at my new clothes and say, 'those are fugly'."

I was once again greeted with silence; it made me sigh deeply as I got up, grabbed my bag, and forcefully plopped myself down next to Yuri on his bed causing him to be airborne about 5 inches off the bed for a moment, finally gaining his attention, "Whoa! What the-!"

"You back from Lala Land now?" I asked down at him with a devilish smirk.

He gave me a cheeky smile as he lightly chuckled in response, "Sorry about that, kinda got caught up in my thoughts for a bit."

"About last night?" I said plainly, my smirk fading; I couldn't hold a smile at the thought of it despite inside I was glad that old fart was dead.

Yuri closed his eyes for a bit before returning his gaze up at the ceiling, "…Yeah."

I sat in silence for a bit before rummaging in my bag, "So, we gonna sit and angst over this all day?"

As I expected, he didn't even respond. So, I grabbed my iPhone to play some music I had for an occasion, "Then…You leave me no choice but to do what Justin once did for me…"

He turned to me with a lost look, not understanding what I meant (Well, not like he could, he didn't even really get to hang out with Justin last time… and not like I was going to tell him anytime soon about those dramatic old days…).

I clicked the play button and the familiar piano began to play. My grin widened as I set the phone off to the side on the nightstand and laid down beside Yuri staring at the ceiling now, "Don't worry, you'll get what I mean soon enough."

' **Sometimes in our lives, we all have pain, we all have sorrow,**

 **But, if we are wise, we know that there's, always tomorrow**.'

My arm went out and found its way around Yuri's back wrapping around his shoulder to push and pull him, to make him sway as the song continued.

' **Lean on me, when you're not strong, and I'll be your friend.**

 **I'll help you carry on.**

 **For, it won't be long, 'til I'm gonna need, somebody to lean on.**

 **Please, swallow your pride, If I have things,**

 **you need to borrow,**

 **For, no one can fill, those of your needs,**

 **That you won't let show.** '

' **You just call on me brother, when you need a hand,**

 **We all need somebody to lean on,**

 **I just might have a problem that you'll understand,**

 **We all need somebody to lean on.** '

I grinned stupidly at Yuri as the song continued on, gauging his lost and changing expressions, from a genuine smile to a mask to hide a glimpse of pain I spotted that lasted for only a second. Soon I didn't need to sway him as he began to sway on his own, getting the picture that I wasn't going to stop either way, I just grinned as I spoke up, "Now come on, sing with me!"

He gave me a silly grin and chuckled, "You wouldn't want that… trust me."

"Fine, buzz kill," I pouted as I stuck my tongue out at him.

We both laughed and laughed as the song continued on; Yuri took in the tracks as they continued, especially a certain part of the lyrics.

' **If, there is a load, you have to bear,**

 **That you can't carry,**

 **I'm, right up the road, I'll share your load,**

 **If you just call me.** '

I gave him a silly wink, stinking out my tongue as the song ended, "So… get it now?"

Yuri wrapped his arms around my neck and drew me close, which made me freeze up. (He's hugging me…. YURI LOWELL IS HUGGING ME?! WHAT THE HELL?! I REPEAT! WHAT THE HELL?! WHAT'S HAPPENING?! AAAHHHH! BRAIN MALFUNCTIONING! CALL THE CIA! CALL THE NAVY! CALL GOD! SOMETHING IS WRONG HERE! SOMEONE CORRECT IT! OH MAH LORD! KAIRI'S GONNA MURDER ME IN MY SLEEP! AAAAHHHHH!)

"Thanks…" I heard Yuri mutter in my hair as I was still stuck in a mental panic attack that I didn't see his right arm move up to my head until it was too late. He tightened his left arm around my neck and began to noogie me so hard with his right hand my brain was scrambling to catch up, "But you made me a bit nauseated with all that swaying!"

"Uggyyaaaahhhh! Forgive me oh universal answer! Guuuuuuuu!" I choked out as I struggled to get out of his hold, my brain officially fried up; and it showed as he finally let me go and I flopped off the bed onto the hard wooden floor, face first, with no realization that I'd even fallen, "Uggghhhh, am I safe now?"

Yuri just chuckled, "Depends on what you consider safe."

I shakily raised my index finger up towards him, "Away from random initiated hugs…"

"Oh, then you're safe," Yuri got out with a bit of a laugh as I sat up on the ground and grabbed my phone to stop the music since I had it on single track repeat.

Just then Karol walked into the room, "Yuri? Liana? Are you two awake?"

I heard the shuffling of sheets and knew Yuri just turned away to face the wall away from Karol. He never wants anyone to see how he's really feeling… unless you grip him and sway him about where he can't escape. I felt myself grin a little as I got up and sat on my bed, turning to Karol as he spoke up, "Estelle and Rita already took off."

"Oh…" that was all that came from Yuri as I responded to fill in what felt like an invitation to fill in the blank, "Well."

"If you two hurry, you might still be able to catch her," Karol said quickly, as though suggesting we chase after Estelle. (Though after multiple playthroughs… ) I raised my eyebrow at Karol as the thought hit me again (He said 'her', not 'them', despite that he came in saying both Rita AND Estelle left, which makes me feel like he was either shipping Yustelle or Yurita secretly, and he wants Yuri to chase after one of them in hopes of 'winning the girl', thought Karol doesn't specify who… but it's more towards Yustelle I know it!).

"I can meet them anytime I want," Yuri said lazily, not wanting to budge from his bed.

I rolled my eyes, "Me and Estelle aren't so close Baby Boy, so I rather sleep in. Speaking of close, where's Kairi?"

Karol pouted big time as he replied, "Jeez, you two! Fine, it that's how you're gonna be. And Kairi's outside, she was waving at Estelle's coach before I came in."

He ran out the door, making Yuri sigh and respond normally, "Even if I did go, it would make it harder for them to leave."

I turned to him with a smirk, "Picked up on that, eh?" He gave me a silly grin and I chuckled, but inside I was still wondering… (Kairi wasn't so close to Estelle either, she loves Yuri, why would she miss the chance to be in here spending some time alone with him to go see Estelle off? Unless…).

The loud bangs made the inn shake as Repede jerked up from laying in front of Kairi's bed to dart for the door.

"What the?" Yuri jolted up out of bed grabbing his bag and sword too as I grabbed my bag quickly, the two of us running out of the inn. Yuri stopped in his tracks out of the door to stare at Phaeroh, but my gaze was on the bridge, there was Kairi and Estelle healing people, but Kairi's main focus was on the flying overgrown flaming turkey as my mind put together the pieces (Yep! I probably ain't wrong! She wants to talk to Phaeroh!).

"Monsters?" Yuri asked curiously as he stared at the commotion happening in the city.

Karol ran over, glad to see us, "Yuri! Liana!"

Yuri turned to Karol with a serious gaze, though he kept returning his sights on the flying threat, "Karol! Any idea what that thing is?"

"No, I've never seen anything like that before…" Karol got out before we saw Phaeroh beginning to descend towards the bridge, "It's coming down!"

Yuri finally took notice of the two girls on the bridge, Caryn running towards them, and spoke with a serious commanding tone, "Come on, Karol, Liana."

He took off without giving us time to answer as I nodded and chased after him, turning to shout at Karol, "Baby boy! Come on! Hurry up!"

Karol stood at the steps stupidly with wide eyes before realizing what was going on as he shouted and chased after us, "What? Hey, wait!"

* * *

-*-One Mess after Another-*-

Yuri: Just when I get to relax… I get dragged into another mess!

Liana: Angsting is relaxing? Huh, you learn something new every day.

Karol: Yuri, fate really is out to get you!

Yuri: Hey, it's not all my fault. You had a role in this, too!

Karol: But I never ran into gigantic monsters or got arrested by knights before I met you!

Liana: Same, and I'd never been off my planet before either!

Yuri: Well, things didn't go bad for me until I left the capital with Estelle.

Karol: …So that means…

Liana: Ah, so that explains it…

Yuri: Drop it. Keep moving.

Karol: R-right.

Liana: Aye aye sir!

* * *

As we neared the bridge, the Flynn brigade was visible, Flynn was on one knee supported in place by his sword as a crutch. He was desperately trying to stand, but had hardly any energy to do so as his panting breath was all that could be heard along with grunts.

Yuri ran over to his best friends side to stare at the giant bird closer before focusing on Flynn, "What is going on here?"

Flynn turned to Yuri with a pant and stopped trying to get up as he pleaded to his friend as desperately as he could, "Yuri… C-Caryn… Protect her… Protect Her Highness… Protect…M-Miss Kairi…"

"Yuri! Liana! Look!," Karol pointed towards the bridge to show Caryn firing arrows at Phaeroh, only for each flap of his wings to basically render them useless as she was using her basic strength alone, no blastia to give boost. Estelle was healing the unconscious knights as Kairi was staring up at the giant bird and… shouting at it as it turned to her and Estelle.

Witcher was firing fireballs left and right towards him, but Phaeroh just ignored it, like a mosquito bite. Estelle stared dumbly up at the giant bird with wide eyes, her mouth opening, but from our distance we couldn't hear a word any were saying.

The sound of multiple metal footsteps were heard as we turned to spot Alexei and his royal guard running up on the scene, Flynn was lost as he spoke up, "The Commandant… But why is he here…?"

That got me to thinking, just why was Alexei here? Flynn himself said Alexei had returned to the capital, so how'd he get here so fast, and why was he here again? Had he faked going back to chase after Phaeroh? And how would he know where Phaeroh would be?

"Our finest Knights…!," Alexei got out as he stared out at the bridge, the sight of Kairi making him flinch and stiffen up as his tone changed from a little concerned to almost a whisper of deep concern, "I am left with no choice…" He turned to the knights with a dead serious gaze, his tone now full of power and command as he ordered, "We will stop this beast with the help of Heracles!"

Yuri began to run towards the bridge as Karol and I followed after him. Alexei shouted at us once he realized where we were running to, "Yuri, wait! There's nothing more you can do!"

Karol and I ran passed Yuri as he stopped to sass back at Alexei, "Hah! You expect me to stand by while that thing makes a snack out of Kairi and Estelle?!"

And there came Phaeroh's famous line, "The insipid poison of this word must be purged," but I wasn't expecting the add on…, "not even a divine being will stand in my way."

As we got closer, we could hear Estelle gasp out, "It can speak…! Wh-Who are you…?!"

A blast his Phaeroh on his left, making him fly up and away as we finally made it to them, Estelle's face brightening up, "Yuri! Liana! Karol!"

Yuri looked relieved as he stopped beside Estelle, "You're safe."

"We're safe too you miserable fuck! But, thanks for asking…" We all turned at hearing Caryn's angry sarcastic shout; she was beside Kairi, Kairi waving her hands to stop Caryn from saying anything else, while Caryn gave Yuri a very harsh glare.

We all ignored that as the fireworks went on in the sky, magical mortar fire after magical mortar fire being shot at Phaeroh as he flew around to evade them. Each blast making a screeching noise that if any closer would make anyone deaf. Kairi seemed to say something to Caryn, the two bickering for a bit as Caryn began to run back towards Flynn's brigade down the bridge, only stopping when Phaeroh got close to the bridge again, almost making the cannon's fire right at us.

At the sight of Heracles, Yuri's eyes widened as he spoke, "What is that…?"

"Heracles…" Estelle said in surprise, which made me wonder (How did she know about Heracles, but Flynn didn't? … He's in the knights and she's the sheltered princess… just how would she know?).

"Whoa… we've gotta get out of here!" Karol shouted in a panic as he ran down a bit further down the bridge. For once I agreed… I didn't want to be hit with cannon fire, that's for sure…

Yuri turned to Estelle, "I'm going to leave the city and continue my journey."

Estelle turned to him with a surprised look, "What do you mean?"

"If you're going back to the capital, you shouldn't keep Flynn waiting," Yuri got out, giving her the choice to continue or go back, "It's for you to decide."

"Then, I…" Estelle said as she watched Phaeroh fly around, before turning to Yuri, "I want to continue the journey as well!"

Yuri just smiled as he held out his hand for her to grab, as he winked at her, "Now, that's what I wanted to hear."

A nearby blast alerted us all that we needed to run! Yuri grabbed Estelle's hand tightly and ran dragging her down the bridge as Kairi and Karol ran off ahead. I ran so fast I actually passed everyone as I shouted, "Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit!"

As we ran past, the familiar colors of white, royal blue, and purple caught our eyes; it made Estelle turn around, escape Yuri's grip, and run back, "Judith?" Seeing the Krityan staring up at the giant bird, she immediately added on, "Don't! It's too dangerous!"

Yuri ran back towards the two women, leaving me, Kairi, and Karol alone to wait for them to catch up; though Kairi was pouting again, her hand gripping her chest, no doubt because of the Yustelle that just happened, though she seemed more upset this time than most other times…

Karol snapped me out of my thoughts as he spoke up, "Huh? Why's it taking off?"

I was about to reply when another voice cut us all off, "Yuri, Lady Estellise, wait!"

We all turned to see Caryn holding Flynn upright as a crutch near the edge on the other side of the now destroyed bridge.

"Here comes the cavalry," Yuri got out with a silly grin as Estelle walked over to speak to Flynn, "I'm sorry, Flynn. I realize now I can't just go back to the capital. There are too many things I still need to know."

"Surely, after returning to the capital you can…" Flynn got out, at least until Estelle shook her head and replied, "The voices of the people suffering in Nor Harbor never reached the capital. I won't achieve anything if I'm not willing to approach these problems head on… I've come to realize that during my travels. That's why! That's why I have to keep going!"

"Your Highness…" Flynn got out, not sure on how to continue or follow up with a strong or valid argument.

At that moment, Yuri tossed the Aque Blastia to Flynn, "Flynn, get this core back to the lower quarter!"

"Yuri!" Flynn shouted in surprise as he caught the blastia; man… how strong was Yuri's rock throwing arm?!

"I won't be going back to the capital anytime soon. I'm going to start up a guild. Give my regards to Hanks and everyone else," Yuri shouted over to Flynn making Karol all giddy at the revelation that he was gonna be making a guild with Yuri, "Yuri…!"

"…A guild. So that's what you meant by doing things your own way," Flynn said in surprise; though I inwardly snickered (Yeah… that's NOT what he meant by that…).

"Yeah, I've finally made up my mind," Yuri said a bit cheeky back to him.

Flynn looked at Estelle, and then he looked to Kairi who was still sulking in secret before turning to Yuri again, "…That's fine, but what about Miss Kairi and the Princess-."

"Take care, Flynn" Yuri said a bit too happily as turned around and walked over to Karol, ignoring Flynn's shouts to get his attention.

I giggled as the song rolled into my head ' **It's Mr. Steal Yo Girl!** '

"I suppose I should've talked to you first, but here's to our new guild, Karol," Yuri said down to Karol with a grin.

"Right!" Karol shouted happily as he and Yuri shared what sounded like a very painful high five. Yuri didn't look fazed… but I betcha he was swearing in pain inwardly somewhere.

Yuri turned to all of us with a relaxed face now before giving Flynn one last smirk, "All right. Let's go. If we hang around here much longer, some of those Knights are bound to come after us."

Flynn gave Yuri a harsh glare and so was Caryn, I narrated in my head what they must be thinking, 'Oh, you sassy bitch!'

I chuckled aloud as I chased after Yuri as he and the others began to run down the bridge to get a good head start over any knights that may be on this side of the bridge after us.

* * *

-*- The Monster that Attacked Dahngrest -*-

Yuri: That huge flying monster actually talked, right…? You ever heard of a monster like that?

Karol: I've never seen or heard of anything like that. I don't think anybody in the Hunting Blades has.

Liana: Huh… something tells me that info is incorrect…

Karol: Huh? And what tells you that?

Liana: Bad vibes…

Yuri: Man, first that thing in Caer Bocram, and now this. The world's just full of surprises… I don't care how many lives you have… It wouldn't be enough to fight that thing.

Karol: Y-yeah. Not even I feel like taking on a monster like that.

* * *

-*- A Hobby? -*-

Yuri: Kairi! Hold up, come over here a minute.

Kairi: !

Liana: What up, Universal Answer?

Yuri: I wanted to ask what she was thinking.

Liana: About?

Yuri: Trying to talk to that thing back in Dahngrest. First, she tried to talk to that dragon back at Heliord, she even tried talking to it during our flight… and now that monster that was attacking Dahngrest.

Kairi: Uh…. Um…

Yuri: Is it some sort of weird hobby or something?

Kairi: No…. but, umm…

Liana: More of a habit than hobby…

Kairi: Liana!

Yuri: Either way, you could've gotten killed; stop doing that. *walks off*

Kairi: …

Liana: *pats Kairi's back* Don't take it so personally, he's just worried is all.

Kairi: …

* * *

We were a good way away from the town when Karol stopped as well as Estelle to catch their breaths; they weren't the only ones, I was wheezing big time… I envied DBZ characters ability to fly, instant transmission, moon gates, mana tunnels, warps, save point quick warps, or Sans's shortcuts!

"I know we've got to get out of town, but I'm dyin' here," Karol complained and whined.

I raised my hand, "Seconded…"

Yuri just gave us a silly grin, "You guys just aren't used to a little morning exercise. It's not much further. Come on, Karol and Liana."

"Just how far are we going?" I heard Judith ask; I almost forgot she was now tagging along with us to keep tabs on Estelle.

"I guess Heliord's our closest destination. So at least until there," Yuri answered back, making me and Karol pout and whine, "What?!"

"Should we rest a little once we get out of the city?" Estelle asked as she finally regained some air to stand up again from her slump.

Karol fist pumped weakly, "A-agreed!"

I puffed a bit more before I decided to voice my opinion, "Though, technically… aren't we already OUT of the city? The town's not in sight, unless there's a sign that says, 'Welcome to Dahngrest!' and another littler sign that says 'Dahngrest city limits' I think we're out of city area already…"

Yuri gave me a sassy smirk, "Okay, oh loophole finder. Let's just keep moving."

And with that we walked the rest of the way, heading towards Heliord.

* * *

-*- The Monster Spoke! -*-

Karol: …Hey, you mind if I ask a question? I need to be sure of something.

Estelle: What is it?

Karol: That big monster we saw… It was talking, right? Like, our language.

Estelle: Yes, I heard it with my own ears.

Yuri: You all heard it, too? I guess it wasn't my imagination, after all.

Karol: Who's ever heard of a monster that speaks a human language…?

Estelle: … Just what is that monster…?

Judith: I was more interested in that final part more myself.

Kairi/Liana: !

* * *

-*- Heracles is Amazing! -*-

Karol: That moving fortress that attacked that monster was amazing… What'd you call it? Heracles?

Yuri: That was a monster, itself. I never knew the Imperial Knights had anything like that.

Estelle: I don't know many details, but it seems it was constructed under Alexei's orders.

Liana: *thinking* (Yeah, I recall he did, but seriously, how did she know? Did the council inform her? Did Alexei get approval to make it before or after the incident with the explosion? And was it originally for hunting Entelexia or did he originally make it for a good purpose? … I wish the Empty Mask could've been translated…)

Yuri: Without Heracles, we might all be in that flying monster's stomach about now…

Karol: Seriously. Heracles to the rescue.

Liana: ….

* * *

I don't even know how far we got as we came to a familiar clearing in the road, a few trees, fence pieces, and hills, but generally deserted. My feet were killing me; 1 partial night's rest didn't mean my legs had healed from the onslaught of stairs and long-distance walking and running. Though baby boy read my mind and spoke up first, "What happened to taking a break?!"

"It's probably a good time. Looks like no one is following us anymore," Judith spoke up as she looked between me and Karol.

Estelle turned to her confused, "… How can you tell?"

Judith looked in thought, "Hmm, intuition I suppose."

"Intuition…?" Karol said questioningly.

I raised my hand as I finally slumped to the ground, "My intuition agrees too. So do my feet…"

Yuri sighed as he walked over beside me, "Anyway, wo should be fine here. Let's rest for now."

I nodded in agreement as Kairi began to check on my legs and tried healing me to make the pain go away. Before we knew it, it was already dark…

"When we have time to take a longer rest, we've got to decide a few things about our guild," Karol spoke up as he turned to Yuri.

Yuri gave him a silly grin, "What is it with you and taking breaks?"

Judith of course asked the biggest and most important question one could start with making a guild or club or anything in general, "What do you hope to accomplish by starting a guild?"

Yuri looked in thought, taken back by the straightforward question, "Accomplish…? Hmm…"

Karol was now giddy with energy, like a child after eating 15 cupcakes, "I want our guild to become really big. And then someday we'll follow in the Don's footsteps and protect Dahngrest ourselves. That way, I can show him my gratitude for all the years he's defended the city."

Estelle clasped her hands as her eyes sparkled in admiration, "That's a wonderful dream, Karol."

Yuri just slyly grinned, "I'll just stick with the boss, here."

Didn't that make Karol a little nervous, "Huh? B-boss? Me?"

"You were the first one to bring up this crazy idea," Yuri added with a smirk.

Karol rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as he began to shake like he was on a 5th cup of espresso, "H-heh, I guess your right. So, what the first order of business?"

"To calm down," Yuri spoke up with a silly grin.

"Yeah," Karol said enthusiastically with sparkling eyes; the whole scene was making me and Kairi giggle. Even Judith couldn't hold back a chuckle, "Hehe… You make guilds sound like fun."

Estelle turned to Judith and us with sparkling eyes as well, she was way too drawn into this, "Why don't you all join the guild as well, Judith, Kairi, Liana?"

Judith looked in thought, "Hmm, I wonder. Do you think they'd let me?"

Karol nodded enthusiastically, the game certainly never showed just how energetic he was feeling during this scene, but it was very interesting to watch, "The most important thing is obeying the guild's laws. Those who break the laws will be severely punished. Even friends or family. The laws are a source of a guild's pride. No one can be admitted without making a solemn pledge to uphold them."

I closed my eyes, there was no way I could join with the number of rules I'd break, count me out. Kairi seemed to be thinking the same as she stared at the sky above, ignoring the current conversation.

"And what are the laws of your guild, Karol?" Estelle asked curiously.

Karol now looked in thought, "Umm…"

"Everybody supporting each other, and always acting with the interest of the guild in mind," Yuri blurted out. Part of me wondered if, 'Lean on Me' influenced him to say this, but it was also programming… so guess I can't take credit, "Striving to always do the right thing, while punishing those who don't."

"What do you mean?" Karol asked, not quite grasping what Yuri was saying.

"All for the guild and the guild for all," Estelle got out as she began to basically translate Yuri's meaning, "Do justice, and punish the unjust."

Yuri nodded and added on, "Everyone's opinion will be valued, so long as it doesn't go against these laws."

Karol looked up at Yuri with such big, saucer sized eyes; fanboy mode had been activated, "Yuri… That's just what I…"

Yuri gave him a wink, "Right, boss?"

I fell over, covering my mouth at the scene… it reminded me of a fangirls vision of a school girl speaking to her senpai for the first time he's noticed her… only Karol was a boy, not a school girl. Ah, baby boy could be so precious, to think in no time… he'll become a little man, and then I'll have to stop calling him baby boy… that thought was actually kind of sad, yet so pride filling.

Karol began to jump up as the words came out of his mouth, "All for the guild and the guild for all… …Y-yeah! That's it! Those are our laws!"

"It looks like these will be my laws from now on as well," Judith replied quickly, making up her mind.

Yuri turned to her with a questioning gaze, "Sure it's okay to make up your mind like that?"

"Yes. You've got me curious," Judith replied as she repeated the main words, "All for the guild… I like the way that sounds."

"Well then…," Karol spoke up, staring at her expectantly.

Judith got the gist of what he wanted and answered, "I pledge to uphold the laws. For the guild's sake… and my own."

Estelle nodded happily as Repede walked to Yuri, that made Yuri turn to Judith with another questioned gaze as he asked, "How about your partner?"

Judith just replied coolly, "Thanks for your concern, but it's all right. He won't mind."

"Your partner…?" Karol asked curiously, I could swear his cheeks got a bit pink, just what was baby boy envisioning I wonder.

"A friend I was traveling with earlier," Judith answered him simply.

Karol just nodded as he replied, "Huh, I didn't know you had someone like that. Okay, so from today on we'll be your new partners, Judith."

"I look forward to it," Judith replied happily.

"Me too!" Karol said happily in response, Repede barked in agreement before Karol turned to me and Kairi, his enthusiasm sparkling in his eyes, "What about you guys? Do you want to join?"

I blinked dumbly before responding quickly and plainly, "Nope."

Karol's smile turned down into a look of confusion as he asked another question, "Huh? Why not?"

I sighed deeply before responding, "Baby boy, with my demeanor… how long would I honestly last in the guild? And how many rules might I break before you have to kick me out personally?"

Karol looked in thought before nodding, "Right, I almost forgot about that."

I faked falling over dramatically, "Ah! You wound me! Do you truly believe me to be so vile?"

Karol just chuckled as he responded, "Hehe, come on, what do you expect after we've been travelling together this long?"

I chuckled back as I sat up normally, "Point taken, ha ha. Though last reason is because I can't call you 'baby boy' anymore if you're the 'boss'… that would wound me greater than any gash!"

Everyone just chuckled as Karol pouted, "You could just call me by my name you know." He turned to Kairi with sparkling eyes now, "So what about you Kairi?"

Kairi looked up at the stars in thought before giving Karol a very sad smile, "I'm sorry… but… I have to decline as well…"

This time Karol looked a bit hurt, guess he thought Kairi wouldn't say no, "Why?"

Kairi looked down for a bit before looking him in the eyes with a soft smile, "Because… I don't think there's really anything I could do to benefit the guild… I can't cook… I can heal… but you can do that already Karol… I can't fight or even hold up a fight… sometimes my memory can get fuzzy so being a secretary like member wouldn't work… I'd just be in the way. Besides… If Liana's not in, then neither am I…. we're kinda a packaged deal, he he."

I sighed as I watched Repede trot over to her and rub his head on her leg, I knew the real reason Kairi was declining… she didn't want to get attached to them big time… plus… we're doing something so vile to them right now about hiding the fact that they come from a game in our world…

"Oh…" Karol said a bit sadly, "I guess it can't be helped then if you don't want to…"

Judith walked over besides Kairi, "You shouldn't put yourself down like that. Even he's getting upset, see?," she motioned down to Repede who was still trying to soothe Kairi before returning focus to their conversation, "I'm sure there's something you could do that you'd be good at; maybe as a good luck charm?"

Kairi looked up at her with a soft smile too as she scratched behind Repede's ear to settle him down, and chuckled probably at the image of being Brave Vesperia's 'good luck' charm, "Heh heh heh, thanks, but still, I'll decline…"

"Then, I…" Estelle joined in now, questioning herself on if she should join.

At that Yuri quickly jumped into action as he snapped his fingers, "Okay, let's call it a day for now."

Karol nodded happily, but fatigue was showing on his face as well as in his tone, "Yeah, I almost forgot how sore I am."

"So, let's set up camp. I'm aching for a goodnights sleep, seriously," I joined in as we all made a campfire to get set to sleep around.

I watched as Yuri walked off to talk to Karol and the others and sighed. I turned my head to notice Kairi slipping away up the hills towards some trees a bit away in the field and tilted my head, now was my chance to get some answers. I walked to her and sat beside her under a tree, "So care to speak aloud, or should we keep this hush-hush?"

She looked at me before sighing, " _Hush-hush. Judith's hearing is super, remember?_ "

"Ah," I replied before I covered my mouth and we began to speak alone, " _I almost forgot._ "

She stared up at the stars again, a bit of sadness reflecting in her eyes, making me wonder if she was getting homesick, " _So… I didn't see you in the room before the whole Vigilante thing… where were you? What's been eating at ya? I know you, you'd have taken any chance to be with Yuri… so why see Estelle off? Why try to talk to Phaeroh?_ "

Kairi just turned to me with a bit of a sad smile, " _That's a lot to answer at once… but… I guess… I'm just being a pouty girl. But, oh, where to start… this is embarrassing!_ "

I grinned devilishly, anything that could embarrass her was definitely worth hearing, " _Soooo? What happened?_ "

" _Remember when you got angry at Yuri and stormed off?_ " Kairi asked a bit sheepishly.

I nodded as a response, beckoning her to continue.

" _Well… C-Caryn gave me some advice… so…I tried to take it and spoke to Yuri alone, so I spoke with him. S-She said she wanted to confess to Flynn that day too… a-a-and that I should… c-confess…to…Y-Yuri…_ " Kairi said a bit shakily as she stared at the ground with great interest.

I grinned wider, " _Oooo, go on!_ "

Nothing could have prepared me for what came next…

She looked up at me with a huge smile, tears streaming down her face from her closed eyes as she spoke with a cracking, soft voice, "I-I got myself dumped and friend-zoned faster than I've ever been rejected in my life…"

…

She drew up her knees and buried her face into them as she sobbed hard, trying to muffle her cries from Judith and Repede, especially Repede since Yuri would follow him to ask what's up. I kept my sights on the group, noticing Repede's ears twitch, but, as if he knew we wanted space, he kept away.

" _I… I'm sorry I asked…_ " was my only response; nothing could come to mind, and a hug wouldn't soothe her. She had to already know that Yuri's only known us for about a month… sure she may have known him for YEARS, but she can't blame him, and I know she knows that.

Kairi sniffled but kept talking, " _So… afterwards… I just went to Caryn and Flynn's room to tell her…guess how her confession went?_ "

I was now interested again, part of me wondering if Flynn hurt her as well, " _Uh… how'd that go?_ "

Kairi smiled as she rubbed her eyes, trying to keep from the group asking what'd happened when we go back, " _He…_ "

My ears were so opened for this.

" _Said…_ "

I leaned closer, my eyes widening… what? So I gained an OTP, I'll go down with the ship! But I'll give Flynn a bad time if he hurt Caryn!

"… _Yes._ "

I blinked dumbly at her, " _He said, yes? Flynn and Caryn?_ "

She nodded and I jumped up and shouted, "MY SHIP HAS SAILED!"

That made Kairi laugh and double over, now she could lie and say those tears were from laughter to avoid the group getting suspicious and curious on her love life. (That would explain thought why Caryn looked and was so pissed with Yuri… Caryn dislikes anyone that'd hurt us, especially Kairi…). I kinda felt myself frown a bit though as I noticed Yuri walking over to us. I can't blame him for rejecting her, but… deep down, I was kinda hoping, he'd at least have given her a chance. I sighed deeply as I began to scramble for some thoughts and excuses on anything Yuri might ask us.

* * *

For once… not 10k words! Only 8.6k!

Caryn: About time you got this done!

I'm sorry Q-Q College finals had me studying hard I barely made straight Bs and 1 A, then the holidays rolled by and my mom was over which made us all INCREDIBLY busy, then when the New Year started I found out my Pell Grants hit their limit… so I owed about 1.2k that needed to be paid to take my spring courses…so I'd been scrambling and getting that dealt with (Thank the Financial Aid Office, we got it all figured out and taken care of!). Now classes are beginning this coming week (And I have no BOOKS yet!)… I'll be busy yet again, but still working on this Caryn I promise XP

Caryn: You better! You owe me that Flynn time! And Justin better not crash this fic because of that other thing you told me!

I made Flynn say yes to you! What more do you want?!

Caryn: The story to that and for you not to revert to TRASH!

Too late… I've always been TRASH :D

~*~ Dear Reader, to let you in on this secret… Justin's been reverting me back to Undertale trash…he's actually got me thinking on an Undertale Fanfic (Not an Undertale AU, but a Kairi AU fic…but I guess it'd be considered an Undertale UT fic…dunno….still a thought only ;D).~*~

Caryn: DON'T LET HER DO IT DX! SHE WILL SIN!

I've already sinned though XD :P getting back to this, hoping to get those drabbles ALL done before my class on Tuesday (I got Monday's free wheeee!)

Next time: Brave Vesperia and Seduction? (Can I reach that I wonder… I want to XP)


	31. 30: Seduction 101

Permanent Note: If you aren't keeping up with the Drabbles, you'll be lost on some things as the chapters progress~ Keep up with that ;D

Please remember, ( ) parenthesis are MY thoughts, _italics are telepathic talk between me and Kairi._

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Tales of Vesperia, Justin, or Caryn. I DO have permission to use Justin and Caryn though. I OWN myself, Kairi, and my work in this fic. That is all….

* * *

"You two sure seem to be having fun. What's that about a ship?" Yuri said as he walked over to me and Kairi.

Kairi lightly stiffened up, still not over that rejection.

"Yeah, just some inside jokes. Nothing special," I replied as I began to get a bit nervous as to why he was over with us.

"I see," Yuri said before putting his hand on his hip in his usual pose, "Well, in any case. Any particular reason why you two won't join the guild? Karol's not here to hear."

I gave him a plain stare, "Just don't want to. Sounds like a pain in the ass, plus, do you really think I'm going to be here forever? I plan to go home if given the chance, and nothing is gonna make me change my mind."

Yuri looked down at Kairi as though expecting her to answer, but if he planned to speak, someone else beat him to the punch, "Perhaps because a 'divine being' has no place among a lowly guild?"

We all turned to see Judith now strolling up to us, a teasing smile on her face. Though her words made Kairi's skin turn to ice with how she phrased that sentence, but she kept silent.

"Divine being? I sure as hell ain't divine," I said questioningly, trying my best to get them off Kairi's case. She couldn't tell them about her just yet, or ever for that matter!

"Oh, I'm sorry. I overheard the conversation and just thought it sounded fascinating. After all," Judith said as she looked down at Kairi, "My partner seemed rather adamant to say you were rather divine due to that aura you let off."

Kairi tried to open her mouth to speak, but now Yuri's gaze was wide opened as he looked down at her too, "Come to think of it. That flying monster back in Dahngrest, he was after Estelle and called her poison... but he was calling you a divine being too."

"B-But... I'm not..." Kairi said nervously, wanting the attention off her badly as her eyes darted between Yuri and Judith helplessly.

I sighed as I stepped forward between Kairi and her two interrogators, "Alright children, back off, you're scaring her. For a guild that's set for justice and helpfulness, you're sure being disrespectful. I can't take you guy's guild seriously if you can't respect another's privacy or space."

Judith of course feigned innocence as she replied, "Oh? I was just a little curious is all. When someone hears things like that, you can't help but want to know."

"But I'm not..." Kairi said lowly as she fiddled with her fingers nervously. She was partly telling the truth, she's not a divine being right now... she WAS a divine being once upon a time. Her every death began to tear down those abilities and blessings until she reached the level she's at now... still demi in a way though. Compared to before, she is a lot more normal now, albeit she can still use her Mabinogi skills, minus some.

"There's your answer, happy now?" I said turning to the two seriously.

Yuri looked at me seriously before sighing, "Alright. If you won't tell us, I get it."

Before Yuri could say another word Kairi shouted out loud, "No! That's not it! Really! I'm not!"

Yuri looked at her again, before nodding, "Okay, I get it. It's okay."

Kairi just sighed heavily before Yuri spoke up again, looking down at Kairi, "Other than that. There was something I wanted to ask you."

Kairi stared up at him oddly, she was obviously internally flustered, but she was incredibly confused too, it was written all over her face, "Huh?"

Yuri looked to me and Judith as he spoke up, "Alone, if you two don't mind."

I blinked at him dumbly as did Kairi, but I complied, part of me hoping it was him reconsidering to give her a second chance, "Uh, sure..."

"My, a secret message. It sounds romantic," Judith teased making Kairi's cheeks flare red.

Yuri shook his head, "It's nothing like that."

At that Kairi's head dropped again in disappointment, and I sighed big time as I followed Judith back to the group (Well, there goes that vision of a second chance).

Me and Judith watched as the two began to talk, Kairi's head dropping down after a little while.

"My, how interesting," Judith said with a smile as she stared over at the two.

She grabbed my curiosity, "I know it's bad to eves drop, but if you're gonna do it, mind letting me in?"

Judith turned to me with a smile, "It's nothing so important. Oh. Look, it's a shower of shooting stars. How lovely."

At first, I thought she was dodging the conversation, but as I peered up, I noticed the sky was filled with so many shooting stars. I had never seen so many at once in all my life. Karol and Estelle were just glowing as they watched and counted each one, the both of them making wishes. Judith stared with her usual unreadable smile, and Yuri looked up at the sky in wide eyed wonder as a smile began to grace his lips. Though as my gaze turned to Kairi, I noticed her head down in her knees, and I found myself frowning. She must've hit an emotional limit... and now the sky was crying in her stead.

I sighed as walked back to lay on my sleeping mat. I wasn't going to ask Kairi about it anytime soon, she needed time to heal. Estelle and Karol asked me if I wanted to make a wish, but I shook my head, I wasn't about to wish on any stars borne of her misery.

* * *

Waking up to a nice egg sandwich breakfast compliments of Judith (That woman can cook... I need to learn her secrets), we prepared to forge onward.

"I hope we can find some work to do now that we've made our guild," Karol spoke up to Yuri.

"Easy, tiger," Yuri chuckled at Karol's enthusiasm before turning to Estelle, "...So, Estelle? What are you gonna do?"

Estelle looked in thought for a few seconds before responding, "I want to go looking for that talking monster. If it was me he was after, I want to find out why."

"Don't feel like you'll be able to rest easy till you find out, huh?" Yuri replied plainly.

"Yuri, if some monster came after me specifically, I don't think I could rest not knowing if he'd be back," I remarked. I didn't want to defend Estelle, but, gotta make sure the time flows in one way, the way I know it does.

"But... how will you do that?" Karol turned to Estelle curiously, "How can you look for a monster if you have no idea where it is?"

Yuri looked at Karol curiously, but held a bit of a teasing smirk, "I thought you were in charge of all the monster-related information."

Karol pouted up at him, "Don't ask me! Even I'd never seen anything like that before."

Judith who had been keeping silent turned to the group, "That was no monster. His name is Phaeroh."

Estelle was no interested, "Do you know about him?"

Judith looked in thought as she spoke, "I saw him earlier when I was traveling with my friend, and it was my friend who knew his name."

"Why would your friend know the name of something like that?" Karol asked incredulously.

Judith looked a bit nervous making Yuri stand a bit more seriously as Estelle walked over to her to ask, "Where did you see it?"

Judy just gave in, "It was on the Desier continent in the Sands of Kogorh."

Estelle took a few seconds to register It before slightly turning into information mode as I called it, "That's the continent southwest of Tolbyccia. The continent of Desier... the desert..."

"You don't just go marching off to a desert because someone saw a monster," Yuri pointed out, Karol and me both talking in unison, "He's right, you know." That made Yuri stare at us both wide eyed as me and Karol practically stared dumbly at each other.

"I wonder if that fairytale could be...," Estelle cut in, making me internally yawn. So far, the dialogue was following game protocols, so I didn't panic and began to trail my gaze to the sky. Later, that sky will be blocked by weird, transparent, purple tentacles that belong to a giant space octopus...

When Karol asked Estelle if she was going alone, I began to inwardly smirk at her reaction. She looked at everyone, her head turning back and forth, back and forth, like a spoiled child waiting for one of us to say, 'We'll take you!' without any hesitation or thinking into the situation. Ah, her deer in the headlight's expression, I loved to see her suffer like this sometimes. I hated when people 'Expect' you to just go along with their selfishness... not that I was any different, just one of the many reasons I hated myself. Though as she returned her puppy gaze to Yuri, he of course gave in.

As the dialogue continued, I kept quiet, I knew I'd say something I'd regret or not mean if I spoke up now, but...

"All right, Super Ultra Courageous Braves, fall out!"

GOD! I swear I could hear the background ost in my head just STOP!

Even Estelle was appalled, but before she could speak...I just couldn't...

"SWEET CHEESESTICKS, WHAT IS THAT ABOMINATION OF A NAME?!" I shouted with eyes the size of saucers.

Karol turned to me wide eyed, "Huh? That's our guild's name!"

"We can't go with that! We need something easy to say that has a real snap to it!" Estelle said almost sassily making Karol almost fall over at two people rejecting his guild's name, he even turned to Kairi for confirmation as he spoke, "Oh, really?"

Kairi merely nodded with a helpless look, but her eyes were pleading to make him change that cringe worthy name, and he looked in thought, "Well..."

Estelle now had her job to name the guild, "How about something like... Brave Vesperia? It's the star that gives off the brightest light in the night sky..."

Boy did Karol love the sound of that, "The brightest star. Cool!"

"It's better than that cringey other name," I said as Kairi nodded in approval.

"Brave Vesperia...Hmm," Yuri said in thought for a few seconds before smiling, "I like it. Let's stick with that."

Karol of course was thrilled to have Yuri's approval, "Okay! That settles it! Let's get to Torim Harbor and charter a boat! We're off on an ocean voyage to the continent of Desier!"

"Didn't you want to take a break at Heliord?" Yuri asked Karol.

"Aw, who needs it?" Karol said happily.

"Either way it's gonna take us a few days to get there, so not like we have a choice. It's best to stock up a bit at Heliord before we head to Torim," I spoke up, stealing some of Yuri's thunder.

Estelle nodded, "I'd also like to know how they've been doing since the blastia went out of control."

"Yeah, that was pretty crazy," Yuri said as he seemed to recall the events.

"You can say that again," I said recalling more than just being knocked unconscious, I remembered Alexei's booty calling on Kairi, all the days we spent there due to so many misfortunes, oh and kicking the tweedles ass.

Yuri repeated our agenda as though he were a walking schedule manager, "So first to Heliord, then from Torim to Desier by boat."

Karol nodded as his enthusiasm kicked in again, "Okay. I'll try again... Brave Vesperia, fall out!"

Repede barked loudly making me jump since I had almost forgotten that pupper's existence.

* * *

-*- Starting a Guild -*-

Estelle: Yuri, I was a little surprised to hear that you're starting a guild.

Liana: Um... You were there when he said it at the bridge... how did that surprise you?

Yuri: Well, it's not like I'll be doing it all on my own.

Judith: Did Karol give you the idea?

Yuri: Yeah, but I'd been thinking about it myself for a while now, too. I quit the Knights to find my own way of doing things, but I hadn't done anything.

Estelle: What Flynn said to you back at the port town... That got to you, didn't it?

Yuri: Nothing that guy says could get to me. *Leaves*

Judith: He doesn't like to admit his feelings, does he?

Estelle: No.

Liana: It got to me too though...

* * *

-*- A New Journey -*-

Estelle: Now that we have a goal and a destination, I'm so excited about continuing our journey!

Yuri: This is a lot bigger than when we were just escaping the capital and chasing after Flynn. We're out to find a mysterious talking monster.

Liana: Yeah, so keep your head about you. If you keep on like that you'll end up deviating from your objective.

Estelle: And to get over to Desier, we'll need to cross the sea again... I think the Sands of Kogorh will be a hot and harsh environment, too. Still, I can't help but be excited that I get to continue my journey! New landscapes we've never seen are waiting for us, just past the horizon!

Liana: And she ignored me... *mutters to self* Ch, selfish princess, what are we, your personal royal escorts...

Yuri: Well, just don't forget what we're out here for.

Estelle: I know.

Liana: *mutters and growls* Oh yeah, ignore me and listen to Yuri ONLY why don't you, bitch!

* * *

The three days rolled by, me teaching Estelle written English with Judith hanging over me like a hawk. Estelle learned to make rice balls from sandwiches... don't ask me how... it's just... weird game logic...and since Judith knew our secret, I was free to listen to my music! I was so happy! I didn't care that we'd have a slight boss battle in Heliord.

Though the oddest thing was Judith trying to stick more to Kairi, probably to get that 'divine' answer out of her, but Kairi never looked uncomfortable.

I swung my arms back and forth as we continued, it irritated me when some lyrics to Japanese songs would escape my lips and Estelle would ask for a translation. I always refused her and ignored Judith wanting to probe for curiosity, some of the lyrics I was hearing... weren't pleasant or easy topics. Last thing I wanted was a worrisome princess on my case 24/7 just because I love dark music with a meaning behind it. But I did make a promise on one song...

"Come on Lian', can't you tell us at least what ONE of those songs means?" Karol practically pouted up at me.

I couldn't take it, he was just too darn precious! And he had called me by the name that some of my good friends call me including my two best friends, they typically shorten my name down to Lian' or Li'.

I had been unconsciously singing Ghost Rule by Deco*27 in Japanese, I paused for a moment before looking down at him with a plain face, "No."

"Aww come on," Karol pouted just as Estelle walked over to pout as well, "Why not?"

I looked in thought; I didn't want anyone to worry about my selections in music, but they were never gonna get off my case with this, "... No. But I promise I'll give you guys a translation someday."

"When will that be?" Karol pouted again, "Why can't you tell us what the weird song is saying?"

I smirked as I walked past him, "It's not called 'weird song', it's 'Ghost Rule'."

"Ghost Rule?" Estelle looked over curiously, but her head was clearly tilted in confusion. She was probably trying to figure what the song could mean based on the title. Too bad for her the title doesn't help with the meaning.

I gave her a helpless grin, "Heh, the title's not gonna help you."

She just sunk her head disappointed that she couldn't come to what the song was about.

"Then, what is it about?" Judith asked curiously.

I turned to everyone with a cheeky smile, "Secret!"

* * *

It was late night when we finally arrived at Heliord. Judith and Kairi were close as always, the two seemed to get along just fine. Though seeing the empty streets compared to the few people we'd seen the last time, was a bit unnerving for me. I knew... I knew where those people were, at least they were alive... for now hopefully. We needed to move fast...but...

"Oh my... Doesn't the city seem less busy than before?" Estelle got out as she looked around.

Yuri began to look around too, "Yeah. This place has gotten a lot more... ghost-towny."

"You don't think that rumor's true, do you?" Karol got out as he looked in thought.

I tilted my head giving him a dumb look, "What rumor? I'm typically the last person to know anything when it comes to gossip and rumors. So, spill it baby boy!"

"You mean that people have been suddenly disappearing?" Yuri said making me turn to him wide eyed.

(We've been travelling together for 3 days now with no outside contact...How the hell does he know about the people of Heliord disappearing?! Stupid game plot reasoning!)

"Maybe it's not just a rumor after all," Judith replied.

I dropped my head as Kairi rubbed my back, I was very pouty right now, "And yet I heard nothing... I'm never gonna share anymore Earth gossip with you guys anymore."

Yuri just gave me a silly grin as he turned to peak at Estelle before turning away to us again, "She has to do something about it."

As if understanding that Yuri was talking about her, she turned to him, surprise in her eyes, "What do you mean?"

Judith nodded as she turned to Yuri, "You can see it on her face."

Karol butted in, he looked a bit proud as he spoke, "If that's the case, we should go to the inn and have a strategy meeting first. After all, we need to go check on the blastia too."

I glomped Karol and squeezed him against my chest as I began to rub my cheek on his head, practically squealing in fangirl delight, "You're actually thinking! Good job! Good job!"

"Yeah," Yuri said giving me and Karol a silly grin at our usual banter, "And it's not like Estelle can just let things go..."

Estelle pouted as she turned to Yuri, "You can't just ignore people's problems, can you?"

"I know, I know," was Yuri's quick reply.

Karol's eyes were practically sparkling, "So then, let's go. To the inn!" He dashed off towards the inn leaving us behind to watch him jolt off.

Kairi couldn't help but giggle as I began gushing, "Oh my lord, he's just too precious~."

Judith chuckled as she replied too, "He sure is getting into it."

Estelle smiled as she turned to Yuri, "He's so happy that he was able to start a guild with Yuri."

"Hey, it's not like I did this just for Karol's sake," Yuri said back quickly a bit taken back.

Judith grinned, "But you care about his feelings, don't you?"

I grinned devilishly, "You Tsundere~."

Yuri quickly turned away towards the inn, "Yeah, well...Come on, we should hurry to the inn."

"Oh!" I said in shock as I latched myself onto Yuri's arm, intent on teasing him. I gave him a devil grin as I began to poke his cheek, still gripping his arm, "You were just about to smile~ Come on, show us big boy! Don't be so shy~!"

"Hey! Come on, let go! Liana!" Yuri said as he tried to pry me off as we both walked towards the inn.

I heard Kairi sigh deeply, but then it was replaced with giggles as Yuri continued to try to push me off, but I kept up my teasing as we all walked to the inn.

* * *

After our 'strategy meeting' we got a room and went to bed. The room looked similar to the one we had before when Alexei paid for them, only less beds, the bathroom wasn't as fancy, the beds were twins, and the balcony was far smaller.

Since there weren't too many beds, just three, Karol and I had to share a bed again, Estelle took one on her own, Judith sat against a wall despite Yuri offering to switch with her since he was on the couch, and Kairi had her own bed too. Repede was allowed to come in with us, so he slept at the foot of Kairi's bed.

I woke up upon hearing the door to our room open and close twice, I went back to bed when I processed and recalled that Yuri and Judith have a little talk outside about Phaeroh and Judith being after Estelle.

I was thinking hard in my sleep on how to get Yuri to seduce the guard...nothing presented itself, every simulation in my mind ended in failure...(Damnit Lowell! Why couldn't you have been an option in the game?!)

When we awoke, we ate breakfast, and I shopped and synthesized new weapons for the group.

"Seriously... why do you keep making us weapons?" Yuri asked with a raised eyebrow.

I rolled my eyes, "Because I got nothing better to do with mah gald. Plus, I'd figure better equipment and new skills learned couldn't hurt you guys as we continue on. Plus, 'I' wouldn't be doing this if 'you' guys would do this yourselves."

Yuri just sighed and gave up, accepting his Blue Dragon +1 and other things. We all headed to check on the blastia just as we had planned in our meeting.

As we stopped before it, everyone just gazed up at it. Without Rita, it's not like we could scan and check it to make sure it was safe. We just had our eyes.

"It seems like this area has returned to normal," Estelle said as she gazed upon the blastia.

Karol nodded, "Yeah. Doesn't look like it's gone berserk since then."

Repede's change in attention shifted Yuri's attention to the bridge that leads to the Knights HQ. Two familiar faces walking this way got his attention real good, "Hey, it's those guys we met at Nor Harbor..."

I turned and saw Teague's wife, Kelas, and their son, Pauly staring at us. Pauly was the first to react as his eyes began to sparkle brightly and he shouted as he ran towards us, "Miss Estelle! Nice Lady and Crazy Lady!"

I almost fell over at that nickname, but Kairi just burst into laughter, "Oh wow, that suits you."

I glared at her harshly and at Yuri too upon seeing his silly smirk before pouting, "Ch, guess I deserve it for going nuts back then..."

After Estelle stood back up from receiving a hug from Pauly she looked down at him, "How have you been?"

He just nodded as Judith looked to us all and asked who Kelas was, to which Karol had to answer first, "We helped these people out at Nor Harbor."

Kelas of course slightly bowed, "We can't thank you enough for all you've done for us."

It seemed like then Estelle's mind clicked onto the most important thing as she looked down at Pauly once more, "Where is your father?"

Pauly's head dropped and he looked about ready to cry. That caught Judith's attention as she became eager to listen, I listened too, hell I couldn't stand seeing sad kids, I just wanted to hug him.

"I haven't seen Teagle-my husband- for the past three days..." Kelas answered her.

I drowned out the conversation, I knew what we needed to do next. We needed to seduce the guard, save Teagle, fight Yeager, and then run away before Flynn catches us. I felt myself sighing big time, today was a full course of trouble, and I wasn't looking forward to a bullet in the face!

"Is Father not coming back...?" Pauly asked sadly making me flinch, damnit we need to do this and fast...

"Hey, Yuri..." Estelle said as she turned to him with a determined look.

Yuri stood silent for a few second before looking over towards Karol, "You're going to ask me why we don't take this on as a guild, right?"

Karol looked between the two of them as Estelle spoke up, "I promise to take care of her fee when I pay my own."

I turned to them with a dumb stare and just deadpanned, "Why are we looking like we need to ask permission first? It's obvious this is serious, plus if you said no... you'd be breaking your own damn laws, or did you forget them already?"

Everyone turned to me with wide eyes as Karol nodded, the fire renewed in his eyes at my reminder of his guild laws, "Yeah, you're right. Okay, that's fine. We'll do it!"

"What? But I..." Kelas looked taken aback.

Judith looked inspired too as she walked over to stand by Karol, it reminded me of a private secretary standing beside the CEO/President/etc., "So this means our next job is finding a missing person."

"And if Cumore's up to his usual stunts, we'll just have to slap him around till he stops," Yuri threw in.

I nodded, "Yeah, because castration isn't much an option. I don't think the guy owns a pair period."

Estelle shut her mouth at my comment, a bit confused now. Seems I had taken her time for dialogue, but baby boy jittered in, "L-let's just make sure we're careful. The Knights could squash a little guild like us if we get on their bad side."

"As you wish," Yuri replied with a cheeky grin.

I pouted, "Crush you? Yuri alone could probably handle them with a hand behind his back, and Judy ain't a slouch either."

Karol gave me a pleading look as to not 'tempt' his team mates.

Estelle kneeled down to talk to Pauly again, "We'll find your father, I promise. Just wait right here."

"Well, that's that," Yuri began as he turned to Kelas, "We'll take the job."

Kelas bowed in gratitude and responded before leaving with Pauly, "Thank you. Thank you so much!"

Yuri turned to all of us once she was out of sight, "All right, let's go find him."

Judith pointed over to the scaffold for the elevator we needed to get to, to go to the camp down below, "There's something very suspicious about that area over there."

Yuri nodded, "Yeah. Even more so because it's marked off-limits."

Estelle looked in thought, "I wonder if there's some way we could get in..."

I was practically trembling in a bit of joy, I always did love the seduction scenes, "I smell my favorite crime of breaking and entering coming up! I'm getting the tingles!"

Karol of course turned to me with wide eyes before looking between everyone to make sure NO ONE was buying my line, "Careful, guys. Remember? Careful..."

At that Yuri waltzed over to the guard and asked, "I'd like to pass if I could."

The knight turned to him with no expression in his tone at all, "Sorry, no can do, buddy. The laborer's camp ahead is too dangerous."

Yuri just huffed and walked back to us, making Karol let out a breath of release. (Was he seriously holding it all in?!)

"Thank goodness...," Karol got out as he spoke out, "Knowing you, Yuri. I thought for sure you'd try to force your way through..."

I looked over at the guard, drowning out the conversation again. It was just one guard at the post, there were no others nearby either... it'd be a simpler task to knock him out and drag his body behind the blastia rather than go on a FETCH quest to make a dress for seduction to do the literal SAME THING! But I guess games needed to add in humor in some ways, albeit this was now ridiculous. Kairi was giving me the same look as if she had just had the same idea, but we both didn't want to meddle with the timeline...not that this was a HUGE deal though...

"Maybe by, y'know, seducing him with feminine wiles?"

Kairi quickly turned back to the group flustered at the new approach we were gonna be given now, "Uh, huh? Wha?!"

I turned to Karol now with huge eyes, "What the FLIP just came out of your mouth, baby boy?!"

I knew he was gonna say it... but still... to have THE YOUNGEST, THE CHILD of the group suggesting SEDUCTION...was... slightly disturbing and it made me want to grab his ear and lecture him on how he came by such a thought or the meaning of those words...if he even knew the meaning!

"Well then..." Yuri said in thought. His grin was a bit too cheeky for my liking. If ONLY there was a way to get him to do this... then he wouldn't be smiling...a slight plan came to mind, but I doubt he'd still take the bait to do it...

"Estelle, you up for it?" Yuri said turning to Estelle.

Kairi's head lowered, it hurt for him to pick Estelle first, it was as if he was saying Estelle was more beautiful...

Estelle of course turned to him with wide eyes, she was now fluttered, though for a girl who couldn't understand much about 'mature content', she sure looked like she knew, "Huh? M-me? N-not a chance!"

I pouted, this was too boring, and little chance was better than NO chance! I turned to Yuri and wagged my finger in his face, "OH, NO YOU DON'T, LOWELL!"

Yuri just stared at my finger as I wagged it at him and made him take a step back for each step I took towards him, "Estelle is the PRINCESS! You can't just destroy her fucking image by whoring her out to some knight! Flynn will fucking KILL YOU!"

"Uh, Lian'" Yuri got out nervously, but I kept up my rant.

"And don't you dare pick Karol! He might've suggested it, BUT HE'S A KID! Judy is the obvious choice...BUT THAT'S FUCKING BORING!" I pouted up at him angrily before regaining some composure and used a finger to lift up my glasses, "And as you can tell, I'm the last person you'd want if you want 'careful'...so...That leaves YOU and KAIRI!"

Kairi looked to me with a horrified squeal, "M-ME?!"

I tried seeing in my mind any way to get Kairi out of this and make Yuri do it... but I doubt Yuri'd be that gracious, especially if he was willing to pick Estelle to do this of ALL people. I sighed deeply, "Yeah... I doubt Yuri'd go full drag to do it for the guild... plus we're not part of the guild, and you're actually pretty good at seduction Kairi...so you do it."

Kairi looked frightened as she turned to me, "B-But I..."

I face palmed as I began to drag her towards the store, "Do it for Pauly."

Kairi looked horrified but soon resigned herself as the others followed behind us silently. (Yeah, Yuri wasn't going to come to her rescue...I had been hoping he would...)

* * *

-*- Succubus Queen #1 -*-

Judith: I was wondering, just how good is Kairi at seduction?

Liana: *smiles with pride* I can't count the number of guys who've met her who haven't fallen for her charms in record time.

Kairi: ...

Karol: Wow, is she really that good?

Liana: Yep! She's a Succubus Queen, she is.

Estelle: Succubus Queen?

Kairi: ! S-She's exaggerating! I'm not THAT good! I've never even seduced a guy in my life...*mutters* At least not intentionally...

Liana: Give it up! Everyone knows unintentional erotism prevails over actually seduction! *mutters to self* Although I haven't begun buying her the Succubus Queen set in Mabinogi...why the fuck does it have to be so dang expensive...

Everyone else: ?

* * *

As we entered the inn to head towards the peddler, I began wondering just what clothes he could make for her with those items that would be 'Seductive' compared to some other clothes she has in her rather expansive wardrobe. Hell, most of her clothes I got her in Love Nikki were 'sexy' enough for this...she had some nice sexy clothes in her Mabinogi wardrobe too.

The cogs then turned in my head as Judith basically tossed aside every article of clothing the peddler offered Kairi. She could wear her Scathach Dress from Mabinogi, it has LOTS of boobage, back, side arm slits, and it gives us thigh slits up and over the hips for a tiny bit of abdomen peakage! Only thing keeping the wind from blowing the two pieces around on that dress were the ties that ran down the slits, though the gaps between them were pretty big to allow for leg viewing. We could also just give him the items in question to make Judith, Estelle, and Karol's costumes ahead of time without having to go back to get those more difficult supplies later.

When the peddler mentioned the supplies we needed, I raised my hand, "Can I do the requesting design then?"

"Oh? You'd like to design it?" The peddler asked as he turned to me.

I smirked and nodded, I was about to have him design Judith and the others outfit, and have Kairi change into her Scathach, "But first, let's go discuss the outfit with us girls. Yuri, Karol, shoo shoo."

The two boys looked at me oddly as I waved my hand at them to get lost so I could explain to the girls and the peddler. They moved off towards the inn's entrance which made me smirk as I turned to the peddler with a shit eating grin, "Okay ladies! We're making an outfit for each of you, and a cute little dress for Karol while we're at this."

Estelle looked confused, "For, us?"

Judith looked a bit surprised too, "Oh? Aren't we supposed to be designing a dress for Kairi?"

I smirked, "She's got plenty of sexy clothing, and I got just the dress in mind! It should be more than plenty. If these items I've been hoarding are all it'll take plus some gold. Might as well have a dress made for each of us, and one to troll Karol...hell I want one made for Yuri too while we're at it."

That made Judith smile now, "Hmmm, a dress for 'him', huh? Seems fitting since Karol suggested it and Yuri played along."

"Yeah! Now let's get this design team rolling!" I shouted, making everyone looked at me oddly while Kairi just giggled. The peddler looked a bit dazed at my enthusiasm. (Hey! If I can't get Yuri to seduce the guard...I WILL GET HIM TO WEAR A DRESS...SOMEDAY!)

* * *

Once the orders were set in, all of us girls headed to the changing room to help and judge Kairi on her seduction technique plan. She changed into the Scathach dress without a fuss, but now that she came out from behind the curtain, she was trebling like a leaf.

"What's up with you? I don't think you've ever had a problem wearing that dress around before," I asked her with a questioning gaze.

She looked at me almost pleadingly, "I-It's just...well..."

She muttered the rest making Judith smirk, "Oh, so that's the issue."

Estelle held Kairi's hands and gave her a confident gaze, "Don't worry! I'm sure you'll do just fine. You just gotta be more confident!"

Kairi's blush intensified as she turned away from Estelle, "T-That's not the issue here..."

Estelle then cocked her head to the side in confusion. Judith quickly waltzed over to her and spoke to her, "Perhaps you should go wait with Yuri and the others to hear for when the peddler is done with our new clothes. You want to try yours on as soon as possible, don't you?"

Estelle looked up at Judith with sparkling eyes, "Yes! I've never tried clothes like that on back in the castle! I can't wait!"

I smiled at her helplessly, she had her moments, "Well, then go wait out and come back when the clothes are done."

Estelle then smiled and ran out of the changing room making Judith turn to Kairi with a slight smirk, "You're worried about Yuri seeing you in that, aren't you?"

Kairi's head then raised up with wide eyes, "H-How did...I didn't even say it aloud..."

"Ah, so that's it," I added in. Made sense, his opinion mattered more to her than anything.

Judith merely gazed at her normally, her expression unchanging, "I'm afraid I overheard your little talk with Yuri that night with the star shower."

Kairi's head dropped and her expression lightly darkened, "Oh..."

"I don't think he'd mind," Judith said normally, "In fact it might make him change his mind."

At that Kairi's head shot up, "NO! ABSOLUTELY NO! IT CAN'T DO THAT! IF IT COULD DO THAT THEN I'D RATHER-!"

Judith looked at her a bit more upset, "What do you mean it 'can't' do that? If it could make him change his mind, wouldn't that be a good thing?"

"NO IT'S NOT!" Kairi shouted again, this time it was loud enough that I began to worry that Estelle was gonna burst in with Yuri and the others. So I ran to the door to keep anyone from coming as I listened to the two women continue.

"What is-" Judith began, but Kairi beat her to speaking again, but this time her voice was quieter, as if she were afraid NOW of someone hearing, "It's not good... If he'd decide to be with me just because of my appearance...I don't want that!"

Judith's eyes widened as Kairi's words began to sink in as she continued to rant, "All my life! ... It's always been, 'your beautiful', 'your sexy', 'oh you're so cute'! ...They don't even bother to look beyond my body! I don't want him to suddenly want me for that... I want him to love me for me...and yet even still... that doesn't seem like it's enough, but it's all I have...All I can do is try...wait... and hope... I'm not gonna push myself on him, or else he'd just want me for the wrong reasons...and if he did change his mind to want me JUST because of that...I'd rather give up on him in a heartbeat!"

Judith blinked at her before pulling Kairi in for a hug, gently petting her hair, "You really do love him. I'm rather jealous now, here I was thinking I could have you."

Kairi's face was visibly red as she looked up at Judith, "Eh?"

Judith smiled down at her with a chuckle as she patted her head, "I'm kidding...or am I?"

(Oh great, our succubus is being seduced...) I helplessly smirked as Judith played with Kairi's hair, the two seemed like sisters from afar.

I heard footsteps rushing as I turned to peak out the door to see Estelle rushing over with some bags in hands. She looked out of breath as she halted in front of me and practically blurted, "Is Kairi okay?! Yuri said he heard her shouting really loudly!"

I waved my hands in a bit of a panic, brain quickly searching for an excuse, "Uh well...we were...uh...oh! Practicing seduction lines! She didn't like the ones I was throwing out, so she got angry. That's why she was shouting."

Estelle looked up at me with wide eyes before seeming to nod in acknowledgement. She peered past me and then looked up at me with confused eyes, "Um, what's going on?"

I turned to see Judith teasing Kairi more with her light touches and comments making Kairi's face become a burning crimson. I just smirked as I could see Caryn wanting to write fan fiction now about Judith x Kairi becoming an OTP before responding, "More practice to help with her bashfulness."

Estelle just bought it as she smiled and gave each of us our clothes as she and Judith began to change into theirs...I wasn't going to wear mine... sexy, with my body type now still...was a no-no. As they came out from behind the curtains, we all complimented and questioned fashion, and I had to argue with them that I wasn't wearing mine till I lost A LOT more weight.

With that, it was time to show the boys!

* * *

"So... why does everyone have a new costume again?" Yuri asked eyeing Estelle and Judith with a lost look.

I placed my hands on my hips in a triumphant pose, "Wouldn't be any fun! So, I had extra materials and asked the peddler to make us all something good~."

Kairi fidgeted a bit when Yuri's eyes swept on her to the others then back to me, "So, why aren't you trying yours on?"

I frowned big time and gave him a glare, "Do I look like I can pull off 'SEXY' with my body the way it is now? With all the fighting and travelling we do, I'm sure I'll get back into shape like I once was upon a blue moon...till then...just NO."

Judith of course bud in now, "You've been staring around for quite a while, and not even one compliment so far, Yuri?"

"Well..." Yuri began, he looked a bit nervous, guess he realized he needs to think before speaking on a subject this touchy.

"What do you say? Does it look OK on me?" Estelle asked as she gave Yuri a little pout.

Yuri just turned to her with a grin that was begging for someone to save him from this conversation, "You two didn't have to change your costumes like that. I thought Kairi was the one doing the seducing."

Judith just closed her eyes with a murderous smile, "Oh? So then, what do you think of her outfit? Would it do the trick on the guard? What do you say?"

At that Kairi looked helplessly at Judith with pleading eyes, but Yuri just simply replied, "Yeah, it'll get the job done. Let's get going."

Kairi flushed bright red, but she soon dropped her head, guess it was an expected half compliment.

Judith just nodded, "The sooner we do this the better."

Yuri then turned to Judith and Estelle with wide eyes, "Hey... Are you two seriously going in that outfit?"

Judith just turned her head with a fake innocent look as she asked, "Huh? Something wrong with our clothes?"

Yuri began to sweat a bit, "Well I could say everything... Uh, never mind that. Seriously, do something about your outfits you two. We're already gonna be causing a scene with Kairi."

I pouted at him as Judith and Estelle complied and walked back to change out, "Yuri, you party pooper!"

* * *

We all hid behind the blastia for cover as we peaked out to see Kairi walking towards the guard. I silently swallowed hoping this could work, if not we'll have to resort to Judith. I had just wanted to mess with Kairi to lift the gloom that still seemed to stain her soul, she truly had never intentionally seduced ANYONE in her entire existence; any seduction was usually unintentional yet very effective.

We all leaned in closer as Kairi seemed to be talking to the guard, her gesture seemed to take on a more innocent role as she twiddled her thumbs and I wondered just what she was trying to do to seduce him... if she was even trying at all. I mean being sassy or using gestures to make his eyes trail her body would've been far faster to get his attention than what she was-

"Oh. She's pretty good, I never would've thought to use such a way," Judith said with a devilish smirk.

I turned to Judith with wide eyes. I had almost forgotten how good her ears were, "Oh my lord, give me the details, I'm getting nervous here with her gestures, just what is she saying or doing?!"

Judith smirked as everyone now turned to give her a look that begged to be told the details, "Lets see. She seems to be playing the role of an innocent maiden that's wanting to-"

"Kyaaaaaa!"

We all turned quickly at Kairi's sudden scream to see the guard had lifted her in a bridal carry, his arms tightly holding her to his chest as he turned towards the inn, "I UNDERSTAND! I PROMISE TO DO MY BEST TO HELP!"

Before any of us could even try to register just what he could possibly mean by that, he began to run with her in his arms toward the inn. My jaw dropped as I began to get set to give chase, "OH FU-!"

"WAIT!" We heard Kairi shout making the guard come to a halt. She looked around nervously before whispering to him yet again.

The guard then turned back in our direction, "I-I UNDERSTAND! Y-Y-YES! YOU'RE RIGHT! ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!"

Judith quickly began to usher us around the blastia to get out of sight as the guard started running in our direction with Kairi in tow still.

Once we were out of sight and the two now in the area behind the blastia, the guard dropped Kairi almost unceremoniously from his arms. She stumbled on her heels and fell forward, putting her hands out to stop herself from crashing into the wall headfirst. As she pressed herself to the wall nervously, her gaze widened and her cheeks flared red at the sight of the guard beginning to unbuckle his pants, "E-EH!?"

I was prepared to go in and give the guy a good punch, but it seems Yuri, Repede, and Judith both had thought to move around the blastia to avoid the guard's detection to help Kairi out first rather than stand and watch like me, Estelle, and Karol were doing. The three gave him quite the beating. In the game it was just either one or three jabs to knock him out, these three wailed on him enough that I began to believe he'd wake up with amnesia the next day.

Karol and all of us now walked over now that the guard was neutralized. Karol was the first to respond with a sigh, "...And as I predicted, it came to blows in the end anyway."

Yuri turned to Karol with a light grin, "Well, we couldn't ask Kairi to go all the way with it."

I turned to Kairi with wide eyes, "JUST WHAT DID YOU DO TO PUSH HIS BUTTONS LIKE THAT?!"

Judith gave her usual devious/innocent smile, "Oh, she was truly amazing. I can see how she would be called a 'succubus queen'."

Kairi turned to us all flailing helplessly, her body began to flush a pretty pink all over, her breasts almost seemed like they were going to pop out from her dress with how forcefully she was flailing, "It's not! I'm not! I didn't! GAH MOU! I NEVER WANT TO SAY THOSE WORDS IN MY ENTIRE LIFE AGAIN! NEVER EVER EVER!"

"Whoa. Calm down first. No one's asking for you repeat it. Change your clothes and leave that costume at the shop," Yuri spoke up in attempts to keep her from spilling out of her dress.

"But wouldn't-" Kairi began to speak up until I butted in and gave Yuri a dumb look, "She owns that dress, plus, wouldn't it take far more time for her to go and change at the inn that it would be to just continue along as is? We're in a hurry, ain't we?"

Yuri looked in thought for a split second before shaking his head once he looked at Kairi again, "No. It'll cause too much distraction for when we sneak in. Head back and change."

Kairi looked at him and tilted her head in confusion before nodding and complying.

Judith had pulled off the guard's helmet and turned to us, "All right, while we're waiting on her. Let's move onto the next step."

I turned to look at the guard right fast and almost gagged, he was sweaty and so dang ugly. I can recall he said he had someone he wanted/promised to marry in the capital...but if he was willing to throw that away to sleep with Kairi here in Heliord for fun... yeah, he's a disgusting guy.

Karol looked confused, "Huh...what?"

"It should be easier to go in if you dress like a knight," Judith spoke up as she began to gesture to Yuri.

Yuri of course looked a bit surprised, "Who, me?"

"Who else?" I spoke up with a pout.

"Karol would work just as well," Judith brought up making me stare at her dumbly.

I sighed, "I don't think an adult's uniform would fit on Karol though. Yuri's the obvious choice then... But Karol could still try on the gauntlets and helmet though."

"Wah, m-me?" Karol said now backing up a bit.

Yuri sighed, "I guess you're right. I'll have to do it. But really, a knight, of all things..."

"Just strip the guy and change Yuri... I don't want to strip him, that's for sure," I said giving the guard a disgusted look.

Yuri just sighed and began to comply making Judith and me take Estelle away to keep from watching Yuri strip and change behind the blastia...but I secretly pulled out my phone and snapped a few candid photos as he began to change. He wasn't much of a beanpole like his clothes showed, he was rather toned, though his waist was slim, it gave him that feminine shape. His legs and thighs weren't so bulky, they were rather sculpted, I almost began to picture him in an ice skaters' costume when 'Yuri! on Ice' popped into mind.

I lightly pouted when I found him to be a boxers type of guy, briefs or even boxer briefs would've definitely shown off his package, but oh well. Still, I snapped the photos like hungry paparazzi. Hey! It was fan service material that I'm sure fans and Kairi would thank me for later!

* * *

OMG It took me forever to return to this with everything happening! I had to focus on my classes and my first attempt at the Practice Core ended with only 1 passing subject compared to 5 in total. I had family over for an entire month, I studied like a mad woman for my 2nd attempt. I passed everything except Social Studies...so for my 3rd and final attempt, I need to study and pass that to be able to take my State Core. It's been driving me up a wall, only 3 chances...THREE! And if I fail this third time I gotta go through hell with appealing and or alternate certification or more stuff.

Caryn: This is why you really should've done these earlier.

I DIDN'T KNOW! When I was finally told about needing to pass the State Certifications to be able to Student Teach this next Spring, I just about died! I thought that would be something for afterwards! Then when my teacher said, 'Hey! In order to pass this class you need to at least attempt the core one time.'... With all the classwork, lesson plans, and observations on top of being a caretaker to a disabled parent... I didn't have much time to study for my first attempt and all my studying was on History...I was even lucky I managed to pass the Math subject the first time with no studying towards it. Now I'm on my last chance...and it's on my worst subject... I'm mentally panicking.

Caryn: Ah, I know you'll ace it! Then you got 3 chances for ESL and PPR right?

Oh god don't remind me! I'm on a deadline to pass the practice ones too, then State! I need to work on this fic BIG TIME to make it up and my Undertale fic needs to get into the underground already XD, and I got OCV fillers in my head, I got Free! fics in my head, Kairi's Origin story, and I got Mabinogi fics in my head! I can't pour them all out at once DX but if I don't find some way to write them down, I'll lose track of ideas for them! I need to buy more special journals like I did for my Undertale fic (I'm like 18 chapters in with that fic in my journal).

Caryn: As much as I'd love to rush you for some Flynn time. I understand the struggle; it was a pain for me in the Nursing field too. Go at your own pace, it's not like anyone else other than you and me seem to enjoy this fic immensely.

Thanks, you Bitch XD!

Caryn: I love you, you whore! XD *hugs*

Next time: Yeager battle...oh god I still can't figure how to make that go...I SUCK at battle writing...


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